Beth, What Can I Do?
by Brunette Beauty 1
Summary: Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her... not until now. Rated T for safety.
1. Identity

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Note To Reader: I came up with this idea a while ago. There isn't a lot of action in this first chapter. It just tells you a little about Beth, and shows you what a day in her life is like. It gets more interesting later, I promise. **

** Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk. **

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**Identity**

I didn't look like my mother. She had raven hair, brown eyes, pale skin, and an oval face. I had curly blonde hair, hazel eyes, tan skin, and a heart-shaped face. She was tall and strong. I was medium-height and average. There was a reason for this: I was adopted. Shelby Corcoran was my mother, but she wasn't my mom. My real mom was named Quinn, Quinn Fabray. She was the captain of the cheerleading squad, and my dad was Noah Puckerman. He was the resident bad boy. The two of them did it during their sophomore year of high school and conceived me. I was what you call "an accident." I've known this for quite a while. I met my parents a long time ago, when I was still an infant. It's been a long time since I've seen them. I don't have much memory of them. All I have to remember them by are the photos Shelby took of me with them, and a drawing of a clown-pig. I looked like Quinn. She had the blonde hair and heart-shaped face that I had, but I had the smile that belonged to my dad. He was tall and athletic with a Mohawk. Well, he had a Mohawk in the picture of me with him.

Apparently Shelby told the mother of my best friend Maddie about my parents when I was in elementary school. Maddie's older sister Brenda called my mom a "slut" and my dad a "jerk" to my face. At the time I wasn't sure what those words meant, but after I found out, I stopped respecting my parents. That was when I found out that I was an accident. I was so naïve at the time that I thought my parents cared about me even if I didn't live with them. I saw them a few times as a baby, and then never again. A few years later, Shelby told me the truth about herself, and I didn't know what to think.

"I did the same thing to my biological daughter that your parents did to you," she sighed. "I was a surrogate for a couple of gay show choir directors, and I never met my daughter Rachel until she was in high school. I regretted it, and your parents regret it too. You shouldn't think so poorly of them." She saw that I was sad, so she offered me a glass of water. Since I was born, Shelby gave me something to drink when I was sad.

Shelby was beautiful in her youth. She was still pretty, but just older. She didn't date a lot of men because she was too focused on her dream: her dream to be a star. I lived in New York when I was a baby. Shelby tried to become a star even then. I hardly ever got to see her. Figgins, the principal of McKinley High at the time, invited her back to Ohio for a huge amount of pay. Apparently the Glee Club instructor William Schuester refused to put a rich girl named Sugar in his club, so Sugar's father paid Shelby to start a new Glee Club at the school and put Sugar in it. Even though Shelby worked for hours in the afternoon at that school, I could see her in the morning and on evenings, instead of maybe once or twice a week like when we lived in New York.

Apparently Quinn was a train wreck. Her hair was pink, she hung out with a group of bad girls called the Skanks, she dated a forty year old skateboarder, and she smoked. Shelby confronted her and told her that she would allow her to be part of my life if she cleaned up her act. Quinn did right away, and she and Puck plotted against Shelby to get the custody rights to me. They wanted me, for once. When they lost the battle, Shelby no longer liked them, and they never bothered her again. They never bothered for me. I never talked about them. But never did a day pass where I didn't think about them. The pictures were on my night-stand, and the clown-pig on my wall.

I attended McKinley High School. My mom was still a Glee instructor, but now she was co-instructor with William Schuester. He was the man that taught my parents, and also Shelby's biological daughter Rachel. I hated talking about my parents in front of Shelby, but I realized that I could at any time go to Mr. Schue and ask him what they were like. I knew one of his children. Michael Schuester. He was a freshman, and I had just begun my senior year. His mother was Emma Schuester, the guidance counselor. Emma, Will, and Shelby were all in the same age range, late forties to early fifties. The current principal was Artie Abrams, in his early thirties and a good friend of my dad's. He was a paraplegic, but very smart. I could have asked him about my dad too.

I'd gotten my license about a year ago. I loved driving because I could get out of the apartment that Shelby and I lived in whenever I wanted to and give myself time to think. I would be out on the road for about an hour, contemplating my life. I didn't like school. At McKinley High, everyone was the spitting image of everyone else. Everyone was into the same things: politics, sports, money - only the kids in Glee Club, Chorus, and Drama had any kind of originality. I didn't hang out with those kids because my friends didn't. My friends like Maddie, who I shouldn't have even called my friend. She had changed from the person I knew when I was little. Now she was like her sister: loud, mean, and shallow. She spent most of her time staring at her round, perfect face, round, perfect little nose, small, perfect ears, brown eyes, brown hair, and fashionable clothing in the mirror, going to the club at night, or flirting with shallow boys. She didn't have time for me anymore. It was awkward because most of her friends were mine.

Kimberly Fields was my best friend. She was tall and skinny with dirty-blonde hair that she often wore braided down her back. I'd known her since I was in fourth grade, and we were on the volleyball team in sixth grade together and then on the basketball team in seventh. For a brief period in my life, I believed that sports were my niche. But I knew there was something else. I liked sports because I loved the adrenaline that rushed through my veins while I played them. But I knew that there were other things I could do in life to feel that same kind of adrenaline.

"I don't understand why Maddie doesn't talk to me anymore," I confided in Kim.

"I agree that she's changed." Kimberly nodded.

"Yeah, but she still talks to you," I mumbled. Kim was more popular than me.

"Maddie and you are like day and night," Kimberly pointed out. "She's rather shallow, full of herself, and immature. You have more depth. You're smarter than her, even if she's more book-smart and has better grades. You're life-smart. You're wise, and you know that there's more to life than hair and clothes."

"How can you say all that about her? You're her friend," I reminded her.

"I am her friend, but I'm also honest." Kimberly placed a hand on my shoulder. "And just to be honest, I think you're a much better friend than she is. Also, I really like your dress. It's pretty, but it's down to earth."

"Thank you," I said, looking down at my white baby doll. "Shelby sewed it."

"Oh, it's homemade?" Kim looked impressed. "It looks store-bought."

"Shelby's designed and made clothes since she was in high school," I explained. "She's fairly wealthy because she still has some of that money that rich guy paid her for the Glee Club years ago, but she enjoys making clothes rather than buying them."

"Speaking of Glee Club, why don't you join it?" Kimberly was curious. "Michael Schuester's in it, and his dad also teaches it. You'd be able to spend a lot of time with your mom."

I sighed. "Michael's made fun of for being the Glee teacher's kid. I probably am too, but it's worse for him since he's actually in the club. You know how everyone here is about musical people. I would get bullied. Maddie would think I'm a laughing stock."

Kimberly shook her head. "I would make sure that she wouldn't say anything."

"Plus I don't sing," I added.

"Have you ever tried?" she asked.

"Well, no. Shelby told me not to sing because she didn't want me to become helplessly in love with it the way she is," I explained. "She said that I would wind up with the same unsuccessful fate that she's cursed with. People that want to sing and perform wind up jaded and bitter. She doesn't want that for me."

"Well, you never know if you like something till you try," Kimberly shrugged. "Speaking of which, why did you never try out for cheerleading, Beth? You would have been great at it. You're athletic enough, and it would have been fun for you."

I shrugged. "I just don't want to be around people like Maddie, you know. I mean, you're not like Maddie. You don't go clubbing with her and the others."

"Clubbing is dumb," she laughed. "And I'm sure that not all of the cheerleaders are like Maddie."

"Most of them are," I disagreed. "No, you're right. It would have been fun for me to be a cheerleader, but there's a lot of opportunities I've missed out on. Look at me. I'm practically an adult and I've never had a boyfriend or a first kiss."

"You should join Glee Club, or Drama, or Chorus," she said with a smile. "The arts aren't my thing, but I have a weird feeling they might be yours."

I smiled back. "I'll consider it," I told her, but I wasn't gonna consider it.

I walked into my Trigonometry class and sat down behind John Ryan. He had light brown curly hair and torn jeans. "Hi," he said in a friendly tone.

"Hi," I replied.

"How's your day been?" he was curious. John was nicer than most of the other boys at school. The other guys in my Trigonometry class were friends, and some of them exes, of Maddie or her sister. Some of them were football players, and they liked to go around picking on people that were different from them. Fortunately they hadn't ever targeted me. I was invisible to them. Their names were Trevor Samuels, Bruce Driggers, Adam Benson, Kyle Wells, Cody Watson, and Connor Burns.

"Pretty good," I said. "My best friend Kimberly wants me to join Glee Club."

"I'm in Glee Club." John's whole face lit up. "You should join."

"I don't know. It's scary performing in front of other people," I said, but I really just didn't want to be made fun of.

"Not really," he disagreed. "And you wouldn't have to audition for solos if you didn't want to. I really think you should do it."

"I'll consider it." But I wasn't gonna consider it.

After school, I drove around Lima, contemplating my day. I thought about the way both Kim and John wanted me to join Glee. Was fate trying to push me?

There was a loud bang and I ducked my head as if I'd heard a gun-shot. A moment later I realized that I had a flat. Damn. Well, Hummel's Tire & Lube was only down the road. I hoped my car had enough mileage to get there. I drove the Porsche slowly and carefully over to the car repair shop. Fortunately, I was able to make it. I got out of the car and stood up against it. Burt Hummel was a man in his early sixties and a blue cap. He smiled and asked what I needed. I told him about the flat, and then he called his stepson Finn Hudson over to help me. Finn was tall and slightly handsome with brown hair and brown eyes. He was dressed similarly to his stepfather.

While he worked on my car, a man about his age with short strawberry blond hair, golden eyes, and slight stubble approached him. "Hey Finn," he said confidently. "The Lima Class of 2012 Reunion is coming up soon. Are ya gonna go and see what all the other football players have been up to over the years?"

Finn shook his head. "Nah, I'm not really interested in that, Chad."

The other man scoffed. "No, me neither. School reunions are for women."

"Hey, Mrs. Fry," Finn said to Chad's petite, curvy, brunette wife. She was holding the hand of their four-year-old daughter. She gave a white smile and said hello back. "Your car looks good," Finn told me, and then he asked Chad's wife to tell him what she needed for her car. She led him away to show him, and Chad grinned at me.

"Are you Finn's younger sister or something?" he asked in a friendly tone.

"No." I shook my head. "I'm just a customer."

"I think I've seen you around before," he said. "You're here a lot, aren't you?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I'm always in my car, and a lot of the time there's something wrong with it. I take it here so that experts can take care of it. I'm like a paranoid mother who constantly takes her child to the hospital."

He laughed. "'Nothing wrong with that. Protectiveness is a great quality."

I couldn't believe that he found me so interesting. He just stood there, hanging on my every word. And this was a guy who played football in high school. If he was currently a teenager and hung with the football players I knew, he wouldn't be standing there. I shrugged awkwardly and hoped that his wife, daughter, and Finn would return.

Chad was a rugged man dressed in a brown jacket, a tight black shirt, and an ordinary pair of jeans. He was probably sixteen or seventeen years older than I was, but was rather attractive. It surprised me that he was married with a kid. He had the cocky stance of a womanizer. Thankfully, the others returned. I'd felt so awkward.

His wife kissed him and his daughter jumped up into his arms. Finn told them that their car was fixed, so they turned around and started off. "Seeya round, Finn," Chad said. "And oh, what was your name?" he asked me.

"Beth," I replied quietly.

"Bye, Beth." He waved and he and his family went over to their car.

"Hey Beth," Finn said cautiously, "have you heard from your mother lately?"

"Shelby…" I began, "… or Quinn?"

He took a deep breath. "Quinn."

I shook my head and smiled weakly. "I don't ever hear from Quinn. Sorry."

"No, it's okay," he assured me. "Don't worry. You just look like her more than ever, so it made me think of her."

I rolled my eyes subtly. "Bye, Finn," I said in a friendly voice. He waved.

I drove home and found an old McKinley yearbook on a shelf in Shelby's room. I flipped through the pages and found Quinn's picture. Finn was right. I did look very similar to her, but our smiles weren't the same. Shelby told me that I'd gotten my goofy smile from my father Puck. I found his picture and saw that it was true. I found the Glee Club picture and stared at both of them. Just then the front door opened and I gasped, shoving the yearbook back onto the shelf. Shelby couldn't know I was looking at them.

"Hey Beth, you're home, right?" Shelby's voice rang through the apartment.

"Y-yeah, Mom." I hurried over to the front room to greet her. "How are you?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "Artie had a talk with me and Mr. Schue today. He told us that for months, the school board has wanted to retire us from teaching Glee Club. They apparently think we're too old, and they'd like for someone younger and more energized to coach Glee Club. Artie says that he hasn't told us because he fought to keep us here, but he can't do it much longer. He apologizes, but he's going to have to look for someone new." Wow, that must have been awful for Artie, having to deliver the news that he had to fire his own Glee coach (Mr. Schue).

"I'm sorry, Mom," I apologized. She smiled weakly and turned on the TV. "Mom…" I began cautiously, because I really hated asking her about my parents. "My mother Quinn was very pretty, and she attracted a lot of guys, didn't she? I mean, she got my father to… have sex with her in the tenth grade, right? And she had boyfrien-"

Shelby looked confused. "Yes, why?"

"Well, everyone says I look like her," I said quietly, "and… boys don't like me."

Shelby groaned. "You just haven't met the right guy, Beth."

"Well, you'd think that someone would have been attracted to me by now if I look so much like her," I pointed out. "If we're so similar, I'm not exactly a dog -"

"Beth, you sound like Quinn right now. Complaining about something small."

My eyes widened. "Why are you insulting me like that? I'm just saying!"

"Right, I'm sorry, Beth," Shelby apologized. "But really, why does this matter so much to you?"

"Because I'm a senior in high school and I've never gone on a date," I snapped.

"You're not the only one," she assured me. "Kimberly's never dated anyone."

"That's because she's so focused on her grades that she doesn't have time for boys," I explained. "Plenty of boys are attracted to her though, and would gladly date her if she seemed interested. But no one notices me!"

"Men aren't that special, Beth." Shelby shook her head. "You're better off without them, trust me."

"You're only saying that because you never date anyone," I muttered.

"What is this? 1950?" Shelby scoffed. "You don't need a man, Beth. Lots of women live their lives never married to anyone. They're independent women."

"Yeah, but they don't care if they never marry anyone." I whined. "I do."

Shelby took a deep breath and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You're right. Quinn did get a lot of attention from boys, but it got her pregnant, didn't it? That's all she got out of it, really. Pregnant and heartbroken on several occasions."

My eyes widened. "And you think it's… bad that she got pregnant?"

"No." She shook her head. "I'm so glad that she did -"

"You said that all she got out of that attention was being pregnant and -"

"She got you out of it, actually," Shelby smiled. "Or at least, I did. It wasn't so bad after all."

"Yeah, nice save, Mom." I rolled my eyes.

"No, really," she assured me. "But you don't want to get pregnant, do you?"

"I wouldn't get pregnant," I groaned. "I would use protection, but all I want is to go out on a date. Actually, all I want is for a boy to like me. To have a crush on me. Is that so freaking weird to want? I feel like some kind of undesirable hairy monster."

Shelby smiled. "One with gorgeous blonde hair."

"Oh wow, very funny," I scoffed. She sat and watched TV as I went over to the bathroom and took a shower. While in the shower, I wondered how gross I must have been that no guy had ever been attracted to me. I pushed the curtain aside and observed myself in the mirror. I crossed my arms and made sexy faces – attempted to make sexy faces. Really, I just looked stupid. I was one of those girls with a(n excuse for a) chest and no ass. It sucked. I was skinny, but boys liked girls that were either super anorexic or super curvy, and I was neither. I looked so stupid staring at myself in the mirror. I bent over backwards, trying to look like a super model. I shampooed my hair with Victoria's Secret and continued making sexy faces. Suddenly I heard Shelby's voice shout at me, asking me why I'd been in there so long, and I almost slipped because she'd startled me. "Almost done!"

I finished and put on my pale lavender bathrobe. I wrapped my hair in a matching towel and left the bathroom. Shelby found me when I was blow-drying my hair and asked, "Did you enjoy posing like a porn-star in front of the mirror?"

I made a face. "What makes you assume I was doing that?"

She scoffed. "Why else would you be in there for an hour?"

"It was not an hour," I said. She crossed her arms. "Okay, maybe fifty minutes."

"I would like for you to start respecting yourself more, Beth."

I smiled sarcastically and said, "I wish I could go back in time five years to tell you not to bother to give me 'The Talk' because I never needed to hear it. I won't have any use for it in my life."

"Beth, one day you will have sex with a guy, and it won't be as great as you make it up to be in your mind," Shelby said sternly. "It hurts, and it's gross unless you're completely in love with him."

"Mom, don't bother." I glared at her. "I shall live a loveless life."

"I hate telling you this, but you are acting like your mother at the moment," Shelby snapped at me. "Quinn complained about nothing. She whined, and she was spoiled. If things didn't go her way, she would shut down. Don't be like her."

"I'm not," I muttered. "She'd had several boyfriends by her senior year."

I felt bad when Shelby left the room. I was shocked at myself for annoying her this badly, and annoying myself. I guess I was so angry about my best friend not speaking to me and about me never having had a boyfriend that I decided to take it out on her. I thought about how I often complained like Quinn and thought about sex almost twenty-four seven… like Puck. And with much despair, I realized that I was exactly like my parents_. I was them_.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

**Author's Note: I'm still going to be writing "TwiLight It Up!" and hope to update within the next few days. I will also be working on "Define: Courage," which is about Blaine and Kurt. There will also be other projects I will be working on this month. I must be insane for writing so many stories at the same time, but with Glee not being on again until November, I need to keep myself preoccupied. Again, this chapter was just telling you about Beth, but there will be more action later. **


	2. Maybe

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.**

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**Maybe**

One evening, I found Shelby reading a recent magazine at the dinner table.

"Anything interesting in there?" I was curious. She smiled.

"My daughter Rachel is going to be starring in the Broadway revival of _Gypsy_," she said proudly. "It's incredible. I failed as an actress, and here my daughter is, starring on Broadway. I guess one's kids really can accomplish what they never could."

I suddenly found myself feeling jealous of Rachel Berry. Not because she was starring in a Broadway show, but because she was making Shelby so proud. I wanted to make her feel that way. I also wondered if one day I would accomplish something that Quinn was never able to. "Hasn't Rachel been on Broadway before, though?"

"Yes," Shelby replied. "She starred as Fanny Brice in the revival of _Funny Girl_ right after she graduated high school, and then was in the ensemble for several other shows. Her friend Blaine Anderson has starred in _How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying_, and been in a few ensembles himself. Her other friend Kurt Hummel tried, but only made one ensemble. After that, he turned to fashion. He's one of the top journalists for Poise Magazine. I suppose there was some animosity since he used to date Blaine Anderson."

"Hey, is Kurt Hummel Burt Hummel's son?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, I think so," she replied. "He was in Glee Club with -"

"My parents." I nodded. "Who wasn't? Don't answer. It was rhetorical."

Shelby laughed and said, "Come on, have dinner."

I sat down. "Didn't you take me to see _Funny Girl_ when Rachel was in it?"

"Yes, I did. I couldn't get us to the front of the crowd to get her autograph. Can you believe it? I couldn't get an autograph from my own daughter. It's still awesome though. I've always loved singing, and now Rachel is a superstar singer. She's in all the magazines, and it's incredible."

I suddenly got an idea. No one would know what it was. Not until school was over the next day. When the time came, I ran into the bathroom and collected myself. I breathed as though I'd just run a mile and told myself to calm down. I did the breathing exercises that I'd learned in yoga. I was also dressed like I would be in yoga, for some reason. A lime green jumpsuit and matching sneakers. I supposed that I'd just thought it would make me more comfortable, even though the only thing I would be exercising today was my voice. That's right. My voice. I was auditioning for Glee Club.

It felt as though I'd walked across the Great Wall of China to get to that choir room. I bit my lip and fidgeted nervously with my sleek ponytail before stepping into the room. When I got in there, I saw all of the creative Glee Club kids like Michael Schuester and John Ryan. When John saw me, he waved. I waved back and then went over to Shelby and Mr. Schue. Shelby looked shocked to see me here. I'd never actually stepped foot into the choir room before. Mr. Schue smiled kindly. "Hi."

"Hi," I breathed nervously. "I'm Beth Corcoran, and I would like to audition for Glee Club."

"Great, Beth," Mr. Schue said. "So you're a singer too?"

I blushed. "I've actually never sung before. But I'd like to see if I can."

"That's fine," said Mr. Schue. Shelby was speechless. "Sing anything you'd like."

"Mr. Schue," said John, raising his hand. "Before Beth auditions, can I have a minute or two to suggest some songs to her?"

"Yeah, have at it, John."

John came over to me and said, "Sing something deep."

I thought about my musical terminology. "Like… an alto?"

He laughed. "Sing something from your heart, your soul. Something that calls up some kind of emotion. Something important to you. It could be something you've never really thought about before; just something that tells us a story about you."

He was basically telling me that I needed to let my guard down, be vulnerable. Tell my secrets. Hide nothing. I didn't really have any secrets, but then I thought about my parents. Something I refused to think about - well, actually think hard about. I'd refused to ever feel any emotion about them, and I supposed I could use that.

"I think I know just the song," I said with a faint smile, and he grinned and told Mr. Schue that I was ready. Mr. Schue announced that I was about to perform, and so I opened my mouth and began, singing the song that would show everyone who I was, _"Maybe far away or maybe real nearby, he may be pouring her coffee; she may be straightening his tie. Maybe in a house all hidden by a hill, she's sitting playing piano; he's sitting paying a bill. Betcha they're young. Betcha they're smart. Bet they collect things like ashtrays and art. Betcha they're good. Why shouldn't they be? Their one mistake was giving up me. So maybe now it's time, and maybe when I wake, they'll be there calling me baby. Maybe. Betcha he reads. Betcha she sews. Maybe she's made me a closet of clothes. Maybe they're strict: as straight as a line. Don't really care as long as they're mine. So maybe now this prayer's the last one of its kind. Won't you please come get your baby?" _

Everyone applauded me loudly. "Welcome to Glee Club, Beth!" said Mr. Schue.

When Shelby and I left later, I saw that she was crying. It made me do a double take. Shelby was tough as nails, and she was not one to cry. "Uh… what's wrong?"

"I heard what John said to you before you auditioned," she began. "I think I've always known that part of you wants nothing more than to know your real parents. I wish that I'd forgiven them for trying to sabotage me, and tried harder to make them part of your life."

"Mom, I have no idea why I thought to sing about them," I assured her. "It came out of nowhere. I promise that I would never love them the way I love you. You're my mom. Not Quinn Fabray. She won't ever be."

"There's something else," she sniffed.

"What is it?" I asked.

She smiled. "You have such a beautiful singing voice."

I almost started crying then. "Mom!" I gave her a huge hug.

"Forget everything I ever told you about singers winding up unsuccessful," Shelby laughed. "With a voice like yours, you might make it one day. I should have known you would be a good singer. Quinn and Puck were quite talented themselves."

I snickered. "Can we just call him Noah? I can't take him seriously with a name like Puck. Sorry."

She laughed and nodded. "I agree. Noah it is, from now on."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

That next day, I walked over to Kimberly and said, "It's official. Maddie's never going to speak to me again."

She laughed. "What makes you so sure?"

"It's been four months," I pointed out.

"Look… Beth," she took a deep breath. "Here's what I'm going to do: I am going to arrange a shopping spree. I'm inviting you, and I'm inviting Maddie. I'm telling Maddie that there's gonna be a bunch of girls there, and when she shows up, I'll inform her that you were the only one able to show up. And since it'll just be the three of us, she'll _have_ to talk to you."

"You're setting us up? How awkward!" I panicked.

"Look at you," she grinned. "You're worse than a woman being set up on a blind date."

"Why shouldn't I be nervous?" I was curious. "Maddie's only my ex-best friend; someone I used to think was a sister to me. She hates my guts for some inexplicable reason. I have reason to be uncomfortable with this."

"If you really didn't want to see her, you would stop complaining about her," Kimberly huffed. "But really, Beth, this will be a good thing. Don't worry. I've got everything planned out perfectly." She pat me on the shoulder, turned around, and hurried away before I could say anything else, like she was tired of me.

"Hey, Beth!" I turned around and saw Michael Schuester. He was a ginger, like his mother Emma, and had t he curls that belonged to his father Will. He was slightly chubby because Emma loved to bake for him, and because he was a total arts kid and sat in a choir room every day, rather than exercising. He had the same wide, innocent eyes that belonged to Emma. "I'm so glad you're in Glee Club now."

"Aww, thanks, Michael. I am too," I replied, smiling back.

"I was just wondering," he began, "if you'd like to audition for a solo for Sectionals. It's coming up in the fall, and there's two solos: one girl and one guy."

"Wow, you really thought I was that good?" I said in surprise.

"Yeah, you have a great voice," he said, nodding.

"Thank you, but I don't think I'm ready for auditioning yet," I sighed. "I've only sung a few times, and I've never had singing training. Maybe Shelby could help –"

"Glee kid," Kyle Wells muttered to Connor Burns when they walked by. Connor snickered. They'd been looking at Michael. Michael looked down awkwardly. I frowned at the backs of Kyle's and Connor's heads before they turned the corner.

"Don't let them get to you, Michael," I said kindly. "I'd much rather be a Glee kid than a bunch of assholes like them."

"Thanks, Beth," Michael said shyly. "You're one of the nicest people I know. You're too nice to hang out with that Maddie girl."

I smiled. "Maddie and I aren't friends."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

In early October came the day I'd been dreading: the shopping spree. Kimberly was crazy to do this. Today was going to be the most awkward day of my life. I must have changed my outfit seven times. Kim was right. I really _was_ worse than someone before a blind-date. I was just afraid that if I looked like an idiot, Maddie would be glad she wasn't my friend anymore. But I was supposed to be better than this. I was supposed to care about more than my appearance, how I looked and dressed.

"Every outfit you own looks great on you," Shelby pointed out. "Just pick something and go."

"Fine, I'll go," I began dramatically, "but if I die of embarrassment while I'm out, I won't come back."

She rolled her eyes. "And I said I wanted a daughter," she muttered under her breath.

I threw on a jacket from Macy's and a black pair of pants to wear, and drove to the mall and spotted Kimberly and Maddie in the food court. Kimberly waved her hand at me, and Maddie turned around. _Oh no, this was it_… "Hi, Beth!" Maddie said, smiling brightly. _What?_

"H-hi!" I said in shock. _She actually looked happy to see me_. "Hi, how are you?"

"I'm great!" Maddie said in her high-pitched, preppy voice, and she wrapped her arms around me in a big hug. "I haven't seen you in forever! Why haven't we hung out?"

"I don't know," I replied honestly. Kimberly smirked at me. "W-we should have, though."

"Let's shop," Kimberly said in a sing-song voice and she stood between Maddie and me; the three of us linked arms. We went into Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, and every other store that made you pay seventy dollars for a simple pair of jeans.

"So," Maddie said to me as we waited for Kimberly to pay for something in Forever 21. "Homecoming's on its way. Are you going with someone special?"

"Sadly, no," I sighed. "Boys don't give me the time of day. But you are, of course."

"I thought about it," Maddie explained, "and I'm so tired of guys. I just date them and have sex, and then I'm tired of them so I dump them." I rolled my eyes and she continued, "Homecoming is gonna be a girl's night out for me. I'm going with a bunch of girls: Vanessa, Felicia, Kimberly… we're doing a photo shoot before we go to the dance. You wanna be a part of our group?"

"Sure," I said. Maybe boys would notice me if I saw that I went to Homecoming with the most popular group of girls in the twelfth grade.

"Awesome," she said with a grin. "By the way, we're going in a limousine."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

I could rock the color blue. That's what all my friends told me, so I wore a sleeveless blue dress from JC Penney's with a silver bow in the middle to Homecoming. I'd never felt so popular before. The girls all made a big deal out of me, saying that I looked awesome, and apparently I had some kind of acting ability, because I was able to look like them, act like them, and talk like them tonight. In the limousine we all took pictures of each other with our cell phones and then flirted with the boys we walked by on our way to the gym at McKinley.

When we arrived at the gym, we could see a grind-line in the middle of the dance floor. "Let's go!" Maddie shouted, grabbing Kimberly's arm, but Kimberly pulled it away and ran over to the punch bowl. She was much too proper to get involved in a grind-line. So Maddie took Vanessa with her instead. They went over to some super-hot football players who I'd never had the guts to speak to. I walked over to Kimberly and stood next to her as she poured herself a drink.

"They all look so stupid," Kimberly muttered, rolling her eyes. "We're not like that, Beth."

I was about to ask her why she even bothered going to Homecoming or hanging out with Maddie if she wasn't like that, but then Michael Schuester approached me and smiled. "Hi, Beth."

"Hi, Mike," I replied, smiling brightly in return. "How are you tonight?"

"Could be better," he said with a shrug. "I don't have a date."

Then I heard Maddie's voice as she approached with Vanessa. They were gossiping, and I heard what they were saying. "Oh look, it's that chubby Glee kid. Why's Beth talking to him?"

I continued smiling at Michael. "I don't have one either," I informed him.

He blushed and looked down shyly. "Would you like to dance with m-me?"

I opened my mouth to say yes; we could dance as friends. I would like that, but Maddie and Vanessa were staring at me, and they made me nervous, so I sighed and said, "You know what, Mike? I would say yes, but I've actually got kind of a headache and I would rather just stand still for now."

A heartbreaking expression of rejection appeared on his face and he said, "Fine." His lips trembled. "I understand. I thought you were different. I thought there was _one girl_ who was different. But there isn't, I guess. They're all the same."

"Michael, I just have a headache –"

"Sure, you do." He turned around and walked away.

Maddie and Vanessa cackled and came up to me. "Way to go, Beth. Tell that creep off."

I couldn't bring myself to answer them. I wasn't sure why I did that to Michael. That wasn't something I would do. That was something _Quinn_ would do.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

**Author's Note: Beth could rock the color blue like Quinn did in the "Prom Queen" episode in season two. I promise that after this chapter there will be more action. Lots of Quinn, Puck, and the rest of New Directions in the next few chapters! I hope to update the Glee/Twilight crossover 'Twilight It Up!' within this week. School and clubs keep me so busy. I hate being seventeen. Poise Magazine is from the movie "Thirteen Going On Thirty." The song "Maybe" is from "Annie," one of my favorite musicals. Maddie and Vanessa are somewhat based on Massie and Alicia from "The Clique" novels by Lisi Harrison. **


	3. I Have A Dream

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.**

**Happy Halloween! **

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**I Have A Dream**

"Kim, help, I have a problem," I said, walking over to my best friend's locker.

"What is it?" she wanted to know.

"Maddie wants to get me a boyfriend," I whispered.

"And that's a bad thing?" Kimberly laughed.

"Yes it is," I explained. "She's tossed around names like Trevor Samuels, Adam Benson, and Cody Watson."

"And?"

"They're all jerks."

"What makes you say that?" she asked. I scoffed. How could she not know they were jerks? Oh, I forgot. She was popular, so they were nice to her.

"They hate me," I said loudly.

"Really? Did they ever tell you that?" She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Well - no." I looked down. "But they don't talk to me, so -"

"Beth," she interrupted. "Please."

I sighed. "Oh, you're right." She always was. "I guess I call them jerks to comfort myself because I know that I would never stand a chance with boys like them. They're way out of my league, and I'm too embarrassed to tell Maddie that."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Kimberly assured me. "What does a girl do when she can't get a boyfriend?" I looked at her, and she continued, "She goes out with a boy who can't get a girlfriend. There's plenty of those out there."

"Do you know anyone like that?" I was curious.

"How about that guy you know: Michael Schuester?" she suggested.

I shook my head. "He's nice and all, but he's not really my type. I can't see myself going out with him." She gave me a look like I was being shallow, but I ignored it. "And besides, I don't think he'd give me a chance after what I did to him at Homecoming. He hasn't really spoken to me since."

"Glee Club must be pretty awkward then," she chuckled sympathetically. "But aren't there other guys in there who don't have girlfriends? I mean, most of the kids in Glee are outcasts anyway (no offense to you, since you're in Glee Club), so a lot of them don't have boyfriends/girlfriends."

I thought about it, and then I thought of John Ryan. He wasn't smoking hot; he was very down-to-earth and nice - at McKinley High, being nice didn't qualify you for being hot. He was very original and himself, and he probably didn't even think he was attractive. But as I thought about him, I did think he was attractive. He was cute, even if he didn't know it. He has a pleasantly handsome face, a nice body, and a good singing voice. He probably didn't have a girlfriend. Maybe I could ask him out.

"Yeah," I answered Kimberly. "I actually do know someone I could - bye, Kim! I'm off to Glee Club!" I ran off and waved back at her in a cheerful and determined manner, and all she could do was stand there, wondering what had gotten into me.

My shoes skidded to a halt when I entered the choir room, for what I saw both shocked me and brought my hopes down.

John Ryan had his arms around a girl named Mary Parker, Glee Club's lead female singer. She was blonde, like me, but her blonde was a very different one. While my hair was a dark golden blonde like Quinn's with brown highlights because Noah was brunet, Mary had white platinum blonde hair. While I had hazel eyes that alternated between a brown and green color, her eyes were a light, pale blue. She was prettier than me, and a lot more confident. Even though she was a Glee kid, the popular kids respected her because she was naturally cool. She was never awkward. She could talk to anyone, and everyone wanted her to be their friend. She laughed girlishly and kissed John on the lips. My jaw dropped and I stood there looking like an idiot.

"Cat got your tongue, Beth?" Shelby asked, making a face at me.

"Uh… hi, Mom," I said quietly, and I went over to the benches and took a seat.

I was glad to get out of Glee when it was over for the day. I got in my car and drove over to Hummel's Tires & Lube just to help Finn. Thank goodness I'd been wearing a plain t-shirt and pair of jeans instead of one of Shelby's dresses today so I wouldn't have to worry about getting it dirty. "You're in Glee Club, right?" Finn asked me.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Principal Abrams - er, Artie; that's what you call him, probably - told Shelby that the school board is looking to replace her and Mr. Schue. Younger Glee coaches are needed at McKinley."

"I loved Glee Club." He smiled. "I might just take the job."

"You would?" I said excitedly, but he shook his head.

"I would like to, but I was never really that good in Glee anyway." He shook his head. "I couldn't dance, and I wasn't that good of a singer. Glee needs people like Jesse St. James, a triple threat." He scowled bitterly. I'd heard the name Jesse St. James before. Shelby told me that Rachel was currently married to him.

"Well, on a happier note," I began, "Sectionals are coming up in early December. That's still a ways away since it's only late October now, but it's not too far. We've been singing a few different songs; Mr. Schue hasn't decided on which ones he wants us to perform at Sectionals yet. We know that the female lead is going to be Mary Parker and the male lead is going to be Tony Romano, though. Michael Schuester and I can't sing lead because he's Mr. Schue's son and I'm Shelby's daughter, so that would look like nepotism."

Finn didn't seem to know what that was, so he changed the subject. "Hey, isn't John Ryan in Glee Club?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"His dad's Bryan Ryan. He was an old rival of Mr. Schue's. I wonder how Mr. Schue likes him."

"He doesn't seem to have a problem with him," I shrugged. I thought about what Shelby had told me about New Directions a long, long time ago. "Finn, you were the male lead when you were in Glee Club. Why do you say you weren't talented?"

He looked uncomfortable, so I regretted asking. "I wasn't talented enough."

"Hey Finn, oil check," said Chad, walking up. He smiled at me. "Hi Beth."

"Hey," I said shyly, and I resumed my observation of the car in front of me.

"Alright, Chad," Finn said, walking away from me and over to his car.

After another ten minutes, I got into my car and drove back to the apartment.

I did my homework, and then I logged onto facebook. Maddie had sent me a message.

**Maddie: Hey Beth! **

**Beth: Wassup? **

**Maddie: A Halloween party is wassup! At my house! My parents are gonna be out of town, and the whole town's invited! I'm gonna get u a boyfriend there**!

Halloween was less than a week away. If Maddie's parents were going to be out of town, then her party was going to be filled with a lot of idiots getting high and such.

I was about to say I wouldn't be able to show up and that I would be busy, but then I felt the urge not to. _You're in twelfth grade, Beth,_ I thought, _You've never done anything remotely exciting or wild in your life. Live a little. _

**Beth: Gurl, I am so there!**

**. . . . . . . . . . . .**

"Mom, I'm going to Maddie's house for a Halloween party." What? It wasn't a lie. I really was going to Maddie's house for a Halloween party. I told the whole truth, except for the fact that Maddie's parents were out of town, and a bad crowd was there.

"Good," Shelby said. "I'm glad you two have reconnected. I almost thought that you were never going to speak again. Wow!"

She looked startled when she saw my vampire cheerleader costume.

"What?" I asked.

"N-nothing. You just look like Qui -" She stopped. "A… dead Quinn."

I made a face. "Uh, thanks. But I look good, don't I? Hot, right?"

She snorted. "If you say so."

"It was a joke, Mom. I was kidding." I rolled my eyes and left the apartment. "I know I don't look hot. I look like crap." I tightened my ponytail, got into my car, and drove over to Maddie's house. It was interesting finally getting to see myself in a cheerleading uniform, even if that uniform was a vampire cheerleader costume.

It had been such a long time since I'd gone to Maddie's house that I thought I wouldn't be able to know which one was hers, but the blaring rap music, toilet paper-covered trees, and strobe lights made it clear which one I was supposed to go to. I knocked on the door, and Maddie answered. She was dressed as a witch, which was almost too accurate. "Hi Beth!" she said enthusiastically, motioning for me to walk in.

She talked to me as we walked over to her kitchen, but I didn't listen to what she was saying. I was looking around at the guys, the number one reason I wanted to be here tonight. A few of them were making out or sitting on couches doing more than making out with their girlfriends, but most of them were dancing casually by themselves. Some of them were trying to make eye contact with girls they didn't know, but none of them looked at me. No one was interested. Really? My skirt was up to Canada, and I couldn't find one guy that was interested!

"Oh my gosh, don't look now Beth, but that guy's totally into you," Maddie whispered excitedly as I attempted to drink my punch without having even asked if someone had spiked it.

Oh no, the punch really was spiked. Maddie was hallucinating. "Nuh uh."

"I'm serious, Beth. He's staring at you. I'm not lying!" she persisted.

"Come on Maddie, what guy would be…?" My voice trailed off when I turned around and saw a tall, handsome boy with dark brown hair, fair skin, chocolate brown eyes, and a slim but athletic frame. He was wearing a black suit, probably a James Bond costume. I looked around to see what girl he could be looking at, but it was pretty clear that he was looking right at me. What. The. Heck. I. Looked. Like. Crap.

"I told you, Beth," Maddie said with a smirk.

"He's looking at you," I told her, but she shook her head. She grabbed my shoulders and steered me toward him. "Do you know him?" I asked her quickly.

"I don't know anyone here," she said quietly, and then I was in front of him.

"H-hi," I blurted awkwardly, brushing a random strand of hair from my face.

"Hi," the guy replied in a deep, masculine voice. He didn't know what else to say and neither did I, so I hoped Maddie would come up with something.

"This is Beth," she said, pointing at me. "And you are?"

"Steven," he said, smiling. "Hey Beth."

"Hi Steven." Now what?

"I'm gonna leave you two alone." Maddie winked, turned, and walked away.

It wasn't that I didn't want to be in this situation. It was just that I knew I would screw it up. "Hi," I said again. So I knew how to say the word 'hi.' How impressive. "You know," I began, "when you said what your name was, you should have said 'The name's Steven,' like James Bond says his name." I cracked up. Well, I thought it was funny.

"Right," he chuckled quietly. "Well, you look awesome. Are you really a cheerleader?"

"No." Oh, that was impressive. "But that's only because I've never tried out. I probably would be if I did. I used to do gymnastics."

"That's cool," he said. "So where do you go to school?"

"I'm a senior at McKinley," I replied.

"I graduated from Carmel," he explained.

"So you're a freshman in college?" I said, grinning.

"Yeah," he said. "You're not here with someone, are you?"

I laughed. "Do you see anyone here with me? No, I'm here alone. Yourself?"

"I'm not here with anyone either," he smiled. "I broke up with my ex-girlfriend a month ago. I actually came here hoping to meet someone."

"Me too," I told him. "Hey, you wanna dance?"

"Yeah," he said excitedly, and he followed me over to the living room where a bunch of people were grinding. He'd probably danced with dozens of girls. When I danced with him, I needed to pretend I knew what I was doing. I was not much of a dancer, so I let the music move me. I looked into his eyes and smiled with what I thought was a seductive expression. I put my hands on his shoulders and started dancing. He put his hands on my hips and started dancing as well. I kept thinking I was going to wake up in a minute. I'd only ever danced with a guy in my dreams.

Apparently I was doing something right because he seemed to be enjoying himself. It must have been the genes. I was the daughter of heartbreakers Quinn Fabray and Noah Puckerman, after all.

We didn't grind, but I wanted to. I got the notion that he wanted to also, but I just couldn't see that being possible. No guy had ever wanted to do that with me, and I couldn't believe that one could. Several small trick-or-treaters came up to the door, but rowdy older boys/friends of Maddie put on horror movie killer masks and scared them away. Though this was "a Halloween party," the people here didn't really treat it like Halloween. They may have dressed up and eaten candy, but they weren't doing it to celebrate the holiday. Everything they were doing was just to show off and be bad. Everyone was noisy, drunken, and sexual. At least that made it scary like Halloween.

Vanessa giggled loudly and pulled some random guy by the shirt into Maddie's parent's bedroom and locked the door. They weren't the only ones: a couple had already gone up to Maddie's room to do the dirty. Several other couples had claimed bathrooms, guestrooms, libraries, etc.

Steven exhaled and scooted closer to me. "Everyone's getting rooms."

My heart pounded. He wasn't going to bluntly say "Let's get one," but I can tell that that was what he wanted. He wanted to have sex with me, for me to give my virginity to him. Tonight. Here. "The Talk" Shelby had with me years ago wasn't nearly enough to educate me. I didn't even know him very well. Was I crazy to pass up an opportunity like this? I'd never met a guy that was into me like this before. What if another one never came? _Do it,_ I thought_, It'll be fun, exciting, and spontaneous: everything your life never was. _But then I remembered Shelby's words: "Beth, one day you will have sex with a guy, and it won't be as great as you make it up to be in your mind. It hurts, and it's gross unless you're completely in love with him." And then I remembered Quinn and what happened to her in high school. It was a curse to be a girl, because being a girl meant that one had to analyze everything and consider every option before making a decision, especially one like this. Boys just wing it.

"Yeah," I said nonchalantly. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it. It's just that… now that the time had come… I didn't really know anything about it. And this guy was nice and hot, but I didn't really know anything about him either. And if I gave myself to him tonight, then he might never speak to me again afterwards. At least if I made him wait a little bit, he would respect me. But believe me, I wanted him as much as he wanted me. "They should at least wait to do it somewhere quieter, more private."

"What?" he laughed.

"Well, it's so noisy and crazy here," I pointed out. "What if someone knocked the door down? They should at least get a motel. That's what I would - I mean, I do."

"Huh." He thought for a moment. "Yeah, you're right, I guess."

"I've gotta get home. Curfew." If I stayed any longer, I would start making rash decisions. "But I really enjoyed my time tonight. Can I get your number?" I wasn't gonna let him ask for mine. If I gave him mine, I would never hear from him again. At least if I had his number, I would be able to text or call him if I ever felt like it.

"Sure," he replied. "555-678-9101."

"Thanks," I said, and then I stood up from the couch and started away.

"Beth," he shouted before I left the room. I turned around and looked at him. He smiled shyly and said, "Good night."

He'd wanted me to stay. I'd wanted to stay too, but that just wasn't the person I was, even if it was who my parents were at my age. "Good night, Steven." Then I left Maddie's house without saying good night to the hostess, and drove home. I washed my makeup off, put on my oversized t-shirt and underwear, and climbed into bed.

I didn't get much sleep that night. When I got to school the next day, I was a nervous wreck. So a guy liked me. So what? Big deal. Big deal? It was a big deal when you'd lived your life without ever having had a boy like you, and suddenly one wanted to do the deed! Last night was a life-changing experience for me, one that I would remember for the rest of my life. It was the first night of my woman/adulthood… even though I hadn't actually done anything. I didn't even hug or kiss him, but it was something. Was I gonna text him? Maybe. But not today. Not this week. Was I gonna tell Shelby about this? Maybe. But not today. Not this week. Not this month. Not ever.

"What was that?" John Ryan laughed in Glee Club when he saw me look away from Shelby when I passed her. "You didn't even glance at your mom."

"John," I said quietly, looking around to make sure his girlfriend Mary wasn't listening, "can I tell you a secret?"

"Yeah, anything," he said kindly, and I looked down at my feet.

"I almost had sex last night."

"So?" He didn't find that shocking at all.

"I'm a virgin, John, and I don't know anything about sex," I whispered.

He shrugged. "It's okay. It's not a big deal. I don't know why girls are so worried about it. It's such a natural thing, and it always seems to change the world for girls."

"You're saying that sex doesn't matter to boys?" I asked.

"Well, it does, but it doesn't make us as nervous," he explained. "At least, not me, really. What? Shelby would be mad if she found out?"

"She would be," I said, "but that's not the only reason why I don't want to tell her. I just feel like it's someone else's business, like I need to talk to someone else -"

"I'm just your friend," John chuckled. "I'm not the right person to talk to."

"No, I don't mean you," I assured him. "Someone else. I just don't know who."

"Ah." He nodded. "I do."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? You do?"

"This," he smirked, "is a mother-daughter thing."

"I told you: I don't want to talk to Shelby about -"

"I'm not talking about Shelby," John interrupted me. "And I don't mean about sex. I mean about life in general. You need to talk to your mom about all of these things that make you nervous, all these things you don't know about."

"John, you know that I haven't seen my mom since I was a baby," I said, placing my hands on my hips.

"We're gonna change that, Beth," he insisted. "We're gonna find Quinn. And we're gonna get you together. Puck too. We'll look at phonebooks, facebook -"

"They wouldn't agree to meet me," I pointed out. "If they knew that I was trying to arrange some kind of family reunion, they would refuse -"

"We won't make it look like a family reunion," John assured me. "Isn't the Lima Class Of 2012 Reunion coming up soon? Everybody hates high school reunions, but Glee Club made a huge impact on the lives of Quinn and Puck, didn't it? We could create some sort of New Directions 2012 Reunion or something."

"Shelby told me that Quinn hated Glee Club," I mumbled. "She wouldn't go."

"Oh, but she will," John disagreed. "We'll make sure of it. Just don't tell Shelby. Or Mr. Schue. We will arrange this ourselves."

After Glee Club, I grabbed a few photos of New Directions: some from 2009, 2010, some from 2011, and some from 2012 that Shelby had stashed away in her room. Then I drove over to John's house and we looked at the people in the photos; we wrote an anonymous invitation for all of them. John called Breadstix and made a reservation for a room-full of people so that the ex-New Directions would have somewhere to sit for their big reunion.

"Rachel Berry and Blaine Anderson are mega-Broadway stars," I informed John. "A lot of the other people are super successful now. What makes you think that they'll come to a little Glee Club reunion?"

"New Directions meant something to all of them," John smiled. "They'll come."

I told myself not to be excited about this, because if I was, I would only be setting myself up for disappointment. My parents weren't going to come, especially not Quinn. New Directions made Puck a better person so he might consider going, but it didn't do Quinn any favors that I knew of. I was hopeful, despite myself, as I sent each invitation to the ex-members of New Directions. I sang cheerfully, _"I have a dream; a song to sing, to help me cope with anything. If you see the wonder of a fairy tale, you can take the future even if you fail. I believe in angels; something good in everything I see. I believe in angels, when I know the time is right for me. I'll cross the stream; I have a dream. I have a dream; a fantasy, to help me through reality. And my destination makes it worth the while. Pushing through the darkness still another mile. I believe in angels; something good in everything I see. I believe in angels, when I know the time is right for me. I'll cross the stream; I have a dream. I'll cross the stream; I have a dream."_

. . . . . . . . . . .

**Author's Note: Glee is on this week! Thank goodness! I will be updating all my Glee fics as often as I possibly can. Song at the end of chapter: "I Have A Dream" by Abba. The next chapter will be written in a third-person omniscient point of view. Beth is not present in the next chapter because it is about all of the old members of New Directions, but she will be in all of the other chapters. Even though Sam Evans is not in season three of Glee, he is going to be in the next chapter. I could have written about Matt Rutherford too, but I figured that would be too many people. Quinn and Puck are both in the next chapter! Happy Halloween! **


	4. You're Invited

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.**

***This chapter is written in third-person omniscient point of view.* Warning: There are mature themes in this particular chapter! **

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**You're Invited**

_Why not?_ Noah Puckerman asked himself when he read the invitation. After all, Glee Club saved his life. Glee Club was the reason that now he wasn't a convict he could have been putting in jail at the moment. That's right. Noah Puckerman was a prosecuting attorney. In his youth he'd been around so many lawbreakers that he finally decided that he could do something to help society. It didn't matter that he was held back in his senior year of high school. In that second year of twelfth grade, he studied incredibly hard, and all of his F's turned into A's. He studied law in college, even though he knew enough of it from his days of juvenile delinquency. He'd gone to teen court a few times for minor crimes, but Glee Club turned his life around. If it hadn't been for New Directions, he wouldn't have been motivated to do good in this world.

It didn't matter to him that going to a Glee Club reunion wasn't bad-ass. Not anymore. But it did matter to his wife Lauren Zizes. She was so hardcore that she refused to take his last name when they got married. Lauren was a member of New Directions when they were both juniors, but she quit at the beginning of senior year because being in Glee wasn't bad-ass enough for her. Noah was afraid that if he told her about the reunion, she would laugh at him and call him a "nerd" like she did every once in a while. That wasn't so bad. Every time she did that, Noah would promise her that he could prove that he wasn't such a "nerd," and that would usually result in sex, but for some reason it would hurt more to be called a "nerd" about something Noah loved as much as Glee Club, something he never thought he would love when he first joined in sophomore year. Noah took a deep breath. He was going to tell Lauren.

His wife entered the living room, gorging down a biggie fry from McDonald's. She was wearing a pantsuit. Noah was wearing a business suit as well, but if any of them really wore the pants in the relationship, it was Lauren. She definitely ruled the marriage. If Noah wanted to do something, he had to run it by her first.

"Hey honey," Noah said tenderly, and Lauren rolled her eyes. "I g-got something in the mail today. It's an invitation for a New Directions reunion at Breadstix at Lima." Lima was where they'd lived as teenagers. They still lived in Ohio, but now they lived in Westerville. "You remember New Directions. You liked it at some point."

"Yes, I do remember 'Nude Erections'," Lauren said in a bored tone. "It was really lame, Puckerman. It's probably why you don't wear a Mohawk anymore, which sucks, because that was totally hot." Actually, Noah didn't wear a Mohawk anymore because he was a lawyer, but he let Lauren continue, "But I'm your wife, and I know that the stupid little club meant a lot to you, so I'll allow you to go, and I'll go with you. I'd like to see how bad everyone looks since they've started getting older, and make fun of them because I'm so much hotter. Seeya later for dinner, Puckerman. Make me something that actually tastes good." She turned around and left the room.

"I love her so much," Noah sighed, staring at his wife's retreating back. He grinned and read the invitation again. "Yes," he said excitedly. "I'm gonna get to see everyone again." He felt like a giddy teenager. He was going to see Finn, Rachel, Artie, Tina, Mike, Mercedes, Kurt, Blaine, Brittany, Santana, and Quinn - oh….. Quinn. Besides Lauren, Quinn was the only other woman he ever loved, at some point.

He thought of Quinn and about the only child he ever had, her child. If he did see Quinn, which he might not because Quinn was always bitter about New Directions and might not show up, would they talk about their child? Would Beth ever come up? Noah's heart started pounding. He was excited for the reunion, but also very nervous.

. . . . . . . . . . .

"What's this?" Michael Chang asked when he opened the envelope and read the invitation. His wife Tina Chang received the same envelope. One was addressed to Michael and the other to Tina. Tina made a face, shrugged, and read the invitation herself. When they finished, they smiled brightly at each other.

"Oh, Mike!" Tina exclaimed, throwing her arms around her husband. "We've gotta go! It would be so much fun! We've gotta go to Ohio!" Right now they were both standing in the middle of the White House in Washington, D.C. "I miss Glee Club!"

"Oh, me too," Michael agreed. "And I love you so much." They kissed passionately on the lips, and Mike broke the kiss to say, "Tina, I feel like doing something I haven't done in the longest time!" Tina knew what it was, and she sighed longingly when her husband started to dance. It made her so happy to see him do what he loved again, and she never loved him more than when he did this.

"Michael and Tina Chang," said one of their coworkers, entering the room with a stern look on her face. Mike quickly stopped dancing, but he knew that the woman must have seen him doing it. "The president needs to speak with both of you."

"We're on our way," Tina promised, and she and her husband followed the woman to find the president. It was a long walk since the White House was so big.

When the couple drove home that evening, Tina had time to call Mike's mother on her cell phone. Mike's parents both moved to Washington, D.C. when Mike and Tina did, so Mrs. Chang was currently watching Mike and Tina's son Michael Jr. Their son was named Michael, Mike's name was Michael, Mike's father's name was Michael, and Mike's grandfather's name was Michael, so it was a Chang family tradition to name the son Michael. "Hello," Tina said to her mother-in-law. "How's the son?"

"_He's fine; he's studying,"_ said Mike's mother. _"He's always studying."_

"Tell him we're going on vacation in a few days," Tina instructed. "We're going to Ohio. He'll be excited. Mike and I work so hard and never get a day off, so we hardly ever get to go on vacation. I think Michael's getting tired of the Smithsonian, so Ohio will be new and exciting for him."

"_I think he'll be excited too,"_ said Mike's mother_. "I'll go tell him."_

"Thanks, bye," Tina told her, and then she hung up. She and Mike exchanged another smile and the two of them continued on their way home.

. . . . . . . . . . .

On a beach in California, lifeguard Sam Evans sat up high in the air, watching the surfers and the swimmers, waiting to have to save somebody. Sam loved the beach. He loved the sand, he loved the water, and he loved the sun.

He'd grown up in Tennessee, and then his family moved to Ohio, where he attended school at Dalton Academy for boys for a year. He went to McKinley High that next year, where he was a part of New Directions. He loved McKinley, but he, his parents, and his siblings had to move back to Tennessee afterwards because Mr. Evans lost his job and they'd been evicted, having to live in a cheap motel room for a few months. Sam had to work as a pizza delivery boy, and he'd wanted to keep his family's poverty a secret from New Directions, but Kurt Hummel and Quinn Fabray found out and tried to help him. The other kids in Glee Club thought he was sleeping with both of them, so Sam finally had to tell them the truth about his family's money. Mr. Evans was able to get a job in Tennessee, so Sam had to leave all of his friends in Glee Club and on the football team. After Sam graduated, he moved to California, what he thought was the most exciting place in the United States.

"Sam!" a tan woman with an oval face, brown hair, and a slim but curvy figure called up to him, walking over with an envelope in her hand. Sam looked down at her, and so his wife continued, "This was in the mail for you this afternoon. It's an invitation to a Glee Club reunion in Ohio. New Directions." She reached up and handed it to him.

Sam smiled. Even though he had only been a member of New Directions for one year, Mr. Schue had still thought to invite him. "Thanks, Emily," he told his wife after he read the invitation. He made a charming southern accent and asked, "So would you like to come to Ohio with me, ma'am?"

Emily grinned and nodded. She climbed up to where her husband was sitting and sat in his lap. She was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, a long skirt with a flower design on it, and no shoes or socks. She wrapped her arms around Sam and the two of them kissed each other passionately on the lips. They had to stop not too long afterwards, or Sam would get in trouble for paying too much attention to his hot wife and not enough to people that might be drowning.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Mercedes came home from her job as a hairstylist, and found the baby-sitter struggling to get three of Mercedes' and Shane's seven kids to stop pulling each other's hair. "Don't worry, Jeannette," Mercedes told the baby-sitter. "I'll take care of them now." Jeannette nodded gratefully, received her check, and left the house. Mercedes turned to her kids and said, "Alright now, you kids cut that out!"

"But Mom, Desiree won't stop singing that annoying song from that Barbra Streisand movie!" a five-year-old boy named Leroy complained.

"But I like it so much!" Desiree snapped. _"Don't rain on my parade!"_

"Desiree, stop singing that song," Mercedes told her. "It gets old after a while." She thought of super-famous diva Rachel Berry and groaned in annoyance. Mercedes sat down and watched her kids annoy each other. The oldest was a girl, Keisha, nine-year-old. Then Dion and Devon - twins - eight. Desiree was six and Leroy was, of course, five. Myron was three, and Latoya was a few months old. Mercedes held the baby in her arms and sang an Aretha Franklin song softly to her. A little while later, Shane Tinsley, the postman, finished his shift and entered the house holding all of the mail.

"Bills, bills, and more bills!" he announced, and Myron jumped up into his arms. He handed all the mail to Mercedes so that he could make sure not to drop Myron. Mercedes sorted through the bills and then found the envelope addressed to her. "Oh, and there's also an invitation for you in there, baby," Shane said after Mercedes saw it.

His wife set Latoya down on the couch beside her, opened the envelope, and read the invitation. She sighed in aggravation. New Directions, starring Rachel Berry. "Are you gonna go?" Shane asked curiously.

"You know how much New Directions messed me up," Mercedes pointed out. She shook her head. "Of course I'll go. There were times when I loved Glee Club. But I don't think Jeannette can handle watching the kids for more than a few hours."

"Why don't we take the kids to Ohio with us?" Shane suggested. Mercedes thought about it and nodded. Shane leaned down to kiss her on the lips. "Baby, I'm so glad you've decided to go." They both smiled and kissed each other again.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Artie Abrams wheeled over to the principal's desk at McKinley High, holding in his lap the papers he'd gotten from his mailbox. The invitation for the Glee Club reunion was among them. The number it said to call was not Mr. Schue's, so Artie wondered who it belonged to. Someone wanted to reunite the New Directions. He smiled at the thought of seeing everyone again, and gave his wife a phone call.

"Hey Tabitha," he told her, "Didn't you say you would like to meet my friends from Glee Club?"

"Yes, that would be cool," said Tabitha, a plain and portly, but sweet woman.

"Well, we've all just been invited to meet at Breadstix in a few days," Artie explained, and he could hear his kind wife smile through the phone.

"Aww, that's so nice! You should thank Mr. Schue."

"Actually," Artie chuckled, "I don't know who to thank. It wasn't Mr. Schue that arranged this. I can't wait to find out who did. They did what I should have thought to do a few years ago."

. . . . . . . . . . .

Finn Hudson thought about New Directions after having read the invitation. He thought about what his life had been like since it ended after graduation. His girlfriend Rachel Berry broke up with him because he'd wanted to stay in Ohio. Actually, Finn hadn't wanted to stay in Ohio. He was just too afraid to leave what was familiar. If he'd followed his heart, he would have gone to New York City with Rachel. But he stayed, and was a mechanic at his step-dad's business.

Rachel became a huge Broadway star, as expected, and got married to Jesse St. James, one of her ex-boyfriends from high school. They had a daughter named Angelina Barbra St. James, and Rachel and Jesse both won a few Tony's. Finn married a woman named Melissa, and they had a daughter named Savannah Hudson. Four years ago Melissa ordered a divorce. Finn got to see Savannah on Wednesdays and weekends. Savannah was ten-years-old. Finn had married young and had a child to get over Rachel. Melissa wasn't popular at McKinley High, but she wasn't a loner. She had friends, but she hadn't been a Cheerio. Finn decided he didn't want to marry a Cheerio since dating Quinn was a bitch, so he'd instead married a girl who'd admired him from afar, since he was the football quarterback and Glee lead and all. Finn recalled Melissa going to his kissing booth a few times on Valentine's Day in junior year. Melissa divorced Finn because she could see that he was still helplessly in love with Rachel Berry, and had only used her to get over her. And it didn't work. He wasn't over Rachel.

"You're actually gonna go to that?" Chad laughed, reading it over Finn's shoulder. "I thought Glee Club messed you up."

"It did," Finn sighed, "but it was also the best thing that ever happened to me. Hey, Burt." He was done talking to Chad. He walked over to his stepfather. "I was invited to a New Directions reunion at Breadstix in a few days."

"Yeah." Burt nodded. "Kurt called. He got the same invitation."

"Is he…?" Finn began.

"Yeah, he's going," Burt told him.

"Good," Finn smiled. "At least I'll be able to see him. I haven't seen him since New Years."

"I'm hoping that Kurt might drop by here to visit," Burt sighed.

"He should," Finn pointed out. "You're his father, and you've been great to him. A lot better than I've been to my daughter."

"No." Burt placed a comforting hand on Finn's shoulder. "You've been great to Savannah. Don't let your ex-wife say otherwise. She's just jealous, so she'll feed her lies. One day your daughter will realize who the real good parent was."

Finn smiled. "I'll make sure Kurt stops by to visit you."

"Thanks, Finn. You're a great son as well as a great father, you know."

. . . . . . . . . . .

Kurt Hummel, dressed in tight designer pants and a fur jacket, sat at his computer in his huge office typing an article about a brand of clothes he'd just checked out for Poise Magazine. His shiny brown hair was combed perfectly to one side, makeup covering every blemish, and his piercing blue eyes concentrated completely on his work. He was so unbelievably beautiful that it was surprising he hadn't gone on a date in a year or two. Right now he was trying to forget about the upcoming New Directions reunion. He was going, yes, but to think of it added another level of stress to his life.

Roberta, the overweight, nervous secretary walked into Kurt's office and winced. "He's back, Mr. Hummel. You know… him. He's brought flowers. Should I tell him to leave?"

Kurt gave a tired sigh. The glamorous journalist shook his head and stood up. "Thank you, Roberta, but that won't be necessary. I'll deal with him." He left his office to deal with his admirer, his stalker. The stalker that had moved from Ohio to New York right after he did in the hopes that the two of them could be together.

There he was: David Karofsky, in a t-shirt and jeans, holding a bouquet.

"Good afternoon, Kurt," the burly bully said with a goofy smile on his face. "Just thought I'd bring you these, since, you know, you've been single for a while. You haven't dated anyone, so I thought I might ask you out."

Kurt placed his fists on his hips and stared hard at Karofsky. "Are you out?"

"I came out five years ago," Karofsky reminded him. "Didn't you know that?"

"No, I'm sorry," Kurt said, making a face. "I don't know everything that happens to you the way you somehow do about me. "Why don't you get a boyfriend, Dave?"

"We should go out," Karofsky persisted. He was starting to look impatient. "I mean, I wouldn't do what that Blaine Anderson asshole did and dump you for some other guy. You would be good enough for me -"

"Please don't talk about Blaine," Kurt interrupted. He sighed, closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them and accepted the flowers from his tormentor. "Thank you for the flowers, Dave." He thought about how lonely he felt, and about how Blaine had betrayed him. He had a bad feeling that fate was trying to tell him that he and Karofsky should be together, even if he didn't want to be with him. "Fine. You know what, Dave?" he surrendered. "I'll go out with you, okay? Are you happy?"

Karofsky's beady eyes widened in disbelief. "You mean it?" he asked hopefully.

Kurt sighed weakly. "Yeah, fine," he said through gritted teeth. "I mean it."

"Great," Karofsky chuckled triumphantly. "Wow. Uh, can I go with you to Ohio for the New Directions reunion?"

Kurt's jaw dropped. "How is it you know everything that happens in my life?"

"I saw the invitation in your office," Karofsky replied, and Kurt's blood ran cold.

"Uh…" Kurt said speechlessly. "I'll… think about it, Dave." He turned around and went back into his office before the stalker could say another word.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Rachel, Jesse St. James, and their daughter Angelina, and Blaine Anderson and his long-term boyfriend Sebastian were all in the same room, preparing for the small-scale awards show later on that evening. Rachel and Angelina were both wearing long, glittering pink gowns that Jesse bought for them. Jesse watched with a smile as his wife and daughter spun around in circles, singing "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story.

Blaine wasn't in as happy a mood as Mrs. St. James was. Only a few nights ago, he'd cheated on Sebastian with a bleached-blond drag-queen named Roxanne. That wasn't what was getting him down, though. He wouldn't have cheated if Sebastian hadn't cheated on him first. It was a pattern. Blaine and Sebastian had been cheating on each other for years, and every time Blaine cheated, it was for revenge. He was unhappy because he was in a relationship where neither of them could trust the other. Sometimes Blaine thought of Kurt. Kurt would never have done something like that, but Kurt wasn't like Blaine. Blaine had the constant need to have sex. He needed, needed, _needed_ it all the time. Sex was like a drug to him, and Kurt was much more modest. Blaine had needed someone like Sebastian, someone loose and promiscuous. Because of Blaine's constant desire to have sex, he was stuck in a horrible relationship.

"Oh Blaine, did you receive one too?" Rachel asked cheerfully.

"Receive what?" Blaine asked, and Rachel held up her invitation. "Oh, yeah." Blaine took the invitation out o his pocket and held it up as well.

"You didn't tell me about this, Rachel," Jesse said, suddenly in a less chipper mood. "Finn will probably be there. What if he -?"

"Jesse, you're my husband. Finn's just an ex-boyfriend. I love you," Rachel said, going over to her handsome golden/curly-haired husband and kissing him on the lips. Angelina made a face and closed her eyes in disgust.

"That prude Kurt Hummel will probably be there too," Sebastian scoffed, crossing his arms. Sebastian was a pencil-thin man with dark hair, and was wearing a tuxedo a shade darker than Blaine's. Blaine winced when his boyfriend said Kurt's name. Sebastian approached Blaine and tangled his fingers in Blaine's black curls. "Oh, darling," he whispered breathily. He spoke very lowly so that the little girl in the room (Angelina) wouldn't hear him, "I cannot wait to get you in bed after the show." Sebastian winked, and Blaine blushed. His boyfriend's words sent heat right to his groin.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Santana Lopez arrived at her apartment door in Tribecca. During her junior year in college, she chopped off all of her long black hair and wore it short. She stopped wearing skirts and dresses and started only wearing pants. When she entered her living room, she found her blonde, voluptuous wife Leslie reading to their daughter Nina on the couch. They'd wanted a child, so they hired a surrogate father.

Santana had moved to New York in the first place because gay marriage was legal there and because people were typically more liberal and accepting of lesbians and homosexuals. "How was work?" Leslie asked her wife. Santana saw that Leslie was wearing a short, low-cut dress that showed off her D-cups and shapely thighs.

"I hate work," Santana smirked. "I hate having to be around so many men. I prefer being around woman."

"Oh," Leslie blushed, and then she closed the book she had been reading to Nina. "Nina, why don't you go to bed?" she asked their tan, curly-haired daughter.

Nina yawned, said good night to both of her mothers, and then went to her bedroom to go to sleep.

"You wore that on purpose, didn't you?" Santana snapped, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow to glare at her wife.

"I couldn't resist," Leslie replied with a flirty grin. "I knew you would like it."

"You can be such a bitch sometimes," Santana groaned, shaking her head.

"Not as big of a bitch as you," Leslie challenged, and Santana pushed her up against a wall and kissed her on the lips. Leslie moaned and wrapped her arms around Santana's neck. "Why don't you let me…?" she whispered, moving her hands to her dress and pulling it off. Underneath she was wearing a black bra and underwear. Santana stripped of her own clothes and the two of them relocated to the couch to continue. Leslie would wait until later to tell her about the invitation.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Brittany Pierce had never been very bright. She didn't make good grades in school and was even held back senior year, so there weren't very many job opportunities open for her. But she was always good at one thing:_ having sex._ She went by Britney, instead of Brittany. People that knew her and knew about her career thought it was because Britney Spears was her idol, but it was really probably because she thought that was how her name was spelled. Brittany sold herself on the streets. She had to, if she wanted to keep her crummy apartment. But she enjoyed it. Even in high school, Brittany loved having sex. She was very promiscuous. Many customers were attracted to her long, radiant blonde hair, tan skin, athletic body, and dance skills.

A truck pulled up at her corner. She was wearing black stripper heels, a pair of booty shorts, a low-cut black top, and thick coats of makeup. She lowered her cigarette and smiled flirtatiously when the window opened. Sitting in the truck was a husky man about forty-five years old with filth on his clothes. He looked Brittany up and down.

"You're Britney, right?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yes, hello," she replied in a seductive voice. She watched the man grab his wallet from his pants pocket, open it, and take out fifty dollars. It was a pretty cheap amount. Usually Brittany's customers paid her around two-hundred dollars, but every little bit helped. The man handed her the money, and jerked his head in the direction of the passenger seat. Brittany strutted around the vehicle to get to that side, and then climbed up into the passenger seat. "So," she said slowly as the man drove to God-knows-where. "Where do you wanna do it? In the car or in a motel?"

The man chuckled. "A motel, definitely." He seemed to think that this was the coolest thing, having bought a prostitute. His friends probably told him about her, since he knew her name ahead of time. Brittany reapplied her mascara. Brittany wasn't very bright. She didn't think there was anything wrong with being a prostitute, but she always felt a little bit guilty before she had a customer. It wasn't a problem in high school when she slept around, but for some reason, selling herself was different. The drive took only about fifteen minutes, but it felt like fifteen hours. The man led the prostitute over to an elevator and then into a plain, smelly hallway, looking around to make sure that no one would see them. Then he jerked his head at the room after he opened the door. Brittany strutted inside, and the man locked the door.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Quinn Fletcher flashed a commercial smile at the middle-aged couple that was looking to buy this house. Yes, Quinn was a real estate agent in Virginia. She'd moved away from Ohio to escape the memories of her childhood: being fat and bullied in middle-school, getting pregnant, getting kicked out, having her parents separate, having the boy she loved dump her for Yentl, becoming a train wreck, and losing a custody battle to her child's adopted mother in high school. Quinn cleaned up pretty well after high school. She had stopped smoking for good and married a handsome man named Bill Fletcher. Together they had two children: a seven-year-old boy named Drew and a three-year-old girl named Kristen. Who needed Puck and Beth when you had Bill, Drew, and Kristen?

"So, how do you like it?" Quinn asked the couple. "It's traditional, old-fashioned, and colonial: the ideal Williamsburg home. It's spacious, but cozy. And it's right in the middle of a quiet, easygoing neighborhood. Colonial Williamsburg is only a few blocks away, which gives you a good amount of exercise if you wish to walk over there."

"We'll discuss it for a moment," the man assured her, and then he and his wife began whispering. They turned around when they were done and smiled at Quinn. The wife looked so happy. She started crying tears of joy and gave Quinn a big hug.

"Oh thank you, Mrs. Fletcher!" she exclaimed, and Quinn returned the hug. "We love the house! It's perfect! You've made us so happy!"

When Quinn went home that evening, she grinned triumphantly. She'd been able to make this family happy. She'd made so many people unhappy during her childhood and teen-years that it was good to finally get to please people. Her family and the people she helped find homes were happy, so she was happy now. She entered the beautiful living room in her house filled with pictures of the children, and kissed her husband on the lips. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and told him about the family she'd helped today. He smiled happily and kissed her again.

"I'm going to get the mail," Quinn said, and the pretty blonde woman walked outside to receive it. She opened the mailbox and took all of the papers into the house. She kissed Drew and Kristen on top of their heads and then went over to the dining room to read the mail. When she saw the envelope with her name on it, she made a face and opened it. Then she read the invitation and shook her head. "Bill," she said.

"Yes?" her handsome husband replied, entering the room to hear what she needed to tell him.

"I've been invited to a Glee Club reunion," Quinn said with a laugh.

"Oh." Bill looked surprised. "You told me you didn't like Glee Club."

"That's right. I didn't." Quinn tore the invitation up and threw it away in the nearest garbage can. "I'm not going."

"Maybe you should have called whoever sent the invitation and let them know that you're not going," Bill suggested.

"They'll know when they don't see me," Quinn huffed. "What makes Mr. Schue or whoever sent it think that I would want to go and see everyone? That jerk Noah Puckerman or that idiot Finn Hudson? Or that weirdo Rachel Berry? They're crazy!"

"It's a friendly gesture," said Bill, trying to look on the bright side of things. "It was nice of them to think of you."

"No, it was mean," Quinn disagreed. "They knew that it would make me upset to see the invitation, and that it would bring back awful memories. They wanted to ruin me because they know I'm happy now."

Bill chuckled kindly. "How could they possibly know that?"

Quinn groaned and finally brought herself to smile at her husband. "Fine. You're right. It was a nice gesture, but there's no way in hell that I would get caught dead in Breadstix with all of those outcasts."

"If that's how you feel about it, fine," Bill said, and they kissed on the lips again. When dinner was over and everyone went to bed, Quinn thought about the invitation and regretted throwing it away. She'd changed her mind.

. . . . . . . . . . .

**Author's Note: Beth will be back in the next chapter, and it will be first-person like the first three chapters were. Thank you for the reviews! They're so sweet! I feel bad for Brittany. I would have liked to write more about Blaine and Sebastian, but that will be in future chapters. I wanted to spend more time writing about Puck and Quinn since they are Beth's parents. There you have it. I'll update again soon. The rating may go up someday if the themes become really mature. Adios! **


	5. Mamma Mia

**Mamma Mia **

John Ryan walked over to the booth I was sitting at, wearing the usual torn jeans, plaid shirt, and beanie. He sat down and said "Principal Abrams, his wife Tabitha, and Michael and Tina Chang are here. They just ran into each other out in the parking lot. I was there." John and I had gone on facebook to memorize everyone's faces.

Artie's small, stout little wife Tabitha pushed her husband's wheelchair through the restaurant, and the sharply-dressed Asian couple walked beside them. The hostess led them over to a large booth next to ours so that we would be able to hear everything they said. That was the table we'd reserved for them. They all thanked her, and she walked away. Artie and Mike were both wearing suits and glasses. Tabitha wore a lime green dress with a flower on it, and Tina wore a black dress and violet eye shadow.

"I still wonder who arranged this," Artie pointed out.

"You don't know either?" Mike asked in surprise.

"We thought it might have been Mr. Schue," Tina said, taking her husband's arm.

"I see Mr. Schue every day at work and he never seems to know anything," Artie shrugged.

When Finn walked over, John and I hid our faces behind our menus. If he saw us, he would say hello and we would appear like eavesdroppers because our nervous body language would look suspicious. "Hi, guys," Finn said to his old friends. "I heard you mention Mr. Schue. Is it true that he might lose his job soon?"

"Yes, well I hope to keep him around as long as possible," Artie said with a nod. "But there isn't anything I can do if the school board demands that I fire him. Finn, meet my wife Tabitha. I introduced her to Mike and Tina when we met outside."

"Hello," Finn said, shaking Tabitha's hand. There was an awkward silence when everyone noticed that Finn didn't have anyone with him. "I guess you guys don't know who invited us here."

"No," the four others said, shaking their heads.

Finn asked Mike and Tina, "So what do you guys do for a living?"

"We work for the president," Mike replied, and Finn's eyes widened.

A rugged blond man who I recognized to be Sam Evans and his wife Emily walked up next. Sam wore a brown jacket, white t, and jeans. Emily wore a form-fitting pink cocktail dress. "Hey," Sam said with a cute smile to his old friends.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Artie laughed, shaking his hand.

"I could say the same about you," Sam chuckled, moving on to shake Mike's hand. "Everyone, meet my wife Emily."

"Wow." Finn seemed to be thrown by how attractive Emily was. "Oh, sorry, my bad."

Mercedes and Shane Tinsley walked up next, and Mercedes looked down at her shoes after she and Sam locked eyes. Shane noticed. "What's up?" he asked, politely shaking Sam's hand.

"Mercedes and Shane," Artie said, smiling brightly.

Tina stood up and hugged Mercedes.

"Sam dated Mercedes briefly before transferring out of McKinley," John whispered in my ear.

"How do you know?" I wanted to know.

"Mr. Schue told me," John replied.

"John," I scolded. "I told you not to ask Mr. Schue about New Directions."

"Couldn't help myself," he snorted. "As it turns out, almost everyone dated almost everyone in New Directions. That's part of the reason why there was so much drama in the Glee Club."

Next a well-groomed, gorgeous man with milky white skin, big blue eyes, and neatly combed auburn hair I recognized to be Kurt Hummel walked over, wearing a form-fitting black sweater that stopped at the knee and tight pants. He was with a burly man I didn't recognize.

"Kurt -" Finn was the first to speak, but he stopped when he saw who his step-brother was with. Everyone's facial expressions darkened when they saw.

Sam cleared his throat. "Dave Karofsky." He shook the man's hand cautiously.

"Who would have thought you were gay?" Artie chuckled uncomfortably.

"No one from McKinley," Kurt's melodious voice replied. He'd spoken up to break the tension. "Dave transferred to a different school for senior year high school and came out there." He placed a thin hand on his blushing date's shoulder.

"Oh, look who's out of the closet," said a Latina in a white suit. Santana Lopez. Her wife Leslie was beside her, dressed in a tight black dress. Santana smirked at Dave.

The burly man coughed and said, "I'm not the only one." He noticed Leslie.

"Kurt and Karofsky?" Blaine Anderson said, sounding somewhat defeated. Blaine looked dapper in his tuxedo with his ravel curls gelled. He and his boyfriend Sebastian both wore suits. So did Jesse, Rachel's husband. Rachel was wearing the same glistening pink gown she'd worn to the small award's show. Jesse had his arm around her.

"Rachel and Jesse." Finn smiled sarcastically.

"Blaine and Sebastian." Kurt rolled his eyes and stuck up his nose.

"Maybe this was a bad idea," I whispered in John's ear. He shook his head; he disagreed.

"Uh… hey, guys," said a man with a goofy smile and a stony-faced wife at his side.

"That's your father," John whispered, and my mouth hung open. I knew. I watched him curiously. I hadn't wanted to cry, but a tear managed to fall down my cheek. Noah looked uncomfortable since everyone was arguing.

_**"QUIET!"**_ his wife Lauren demanded and not only did everyone shut up, but everyone in the restaurant stared at the New Directions reunion booth.

"Puck," Finn said, shaking his friend.

"I don't go by Puck anymore," Noah chuckled, and then he moved on to shake Sam's hand.

Then a blonde dressed skimpily in black shorts, pantyhose, and makeup strutted over in her high heels, turning almost every male head in the restaurant. Brittany. I happened to notice that Artie and Santana couldn't take their eyes off of her. I was pretty sure that Tabitha and Leslie noticed too.

"I had one of my customers read the invitation for me," Brittany smiled in embarrassment, and then everyone looked down awkwardly at their shoes. Brittany was a prostitute. Santana looked the most unhappy.

Finally, my mother walked up. I would have recognized her anywhere. Her heart-shaped face and honey blonde hair were just liked mine. She was with a very refined, strapping man with broad shoulders. John nudged me in the side when he saw Quinn.

"Wow, I can't believe everyone actually showed up," Quinn said silkily.

She was wearing a lovely pale blue dress, the exact color I would have chosen.

"Quinn," Sam Evans said faintly.

"You look beautiful," Finn said, his jaw dropped.

"Yes, quite lovely." Jesse looked Quinn up and down. "I still think it's like looking at the ghost of Grace Kelly. Stunning."

Rachel looked threatened. She stared cautiously at her husband.

"Yeah, well, thank you," Quinn said coldly, her tone like a knife. She huffed and then noticed Noah. "Wow," she said, her cool mask melting, her face now looking almost heartbroken. She glanced at Lauren and cleared her throat. "You got rid of the Mohawk. For good?"

Noah smiled goofily and laughed, "You didn't expect me to keep it forever, did you?"

"I agree," Lauren told Quinn. "I miss it too. Now he just looks like a douche bag."

"No, I think he looks better without it. Especially now that he's older. He looks more mature," Quinn disagreed, and her husband cleared his throat. "Oh," Quinn gasped. "Everyone, meet my husband Bill."

"Hello," the men all said, shaking Bill's hand.

"Why doesn't everyone sit down?" Mike asked. Kurt, Dave, Blaine, Sebastian, Rachel, Jesse, Noah, Lauren, Quinn, and Bill were all standing. The remaining people standing all laughed awkwardly and sat down. It was most awkward because Quinn and Noah were sitting next to each other.

The young, pig-tailed waitress with a Brooklyn accent walked over to the booth, introduced herself, and wrote down what everyone wanted to drink. Then she walked away, and Artie said, "Earlier Finn asked what Mike and Tina do for a living. Why don't we all share what we do for a living and catch up?"

"I work at Hummel's Tire & Lube still," Finn said quietly.

"I'm a life guard in California," Sam said, squeezing his wife Emily's shoulders.

"Hairstylist," Mercedes mumbled.

"After I graduated college, I just decided to be a postman," Shane said with a shrug. "I'm often recognized though since I was a popular football player in college." Finn rolled his eyes jealously.

"Journalist for Poise, the fashion magazine," Kurt bragged, and Dave stared lovingly at him.

Blaine didn't know how to put it so that it wouldn't make everyone jealous. "Broadway performer."

"Yes, you are," Sebastian chuckled, kissing his cheek. Blaine looked embarrassed.

"Broadway performer," Rachel said smugly, flashing a smirk over at Quinn.

"Yes, both of us," Jesse said, flashing a smirk over at Finn.

"I work at a bank," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "Boring."

"Lawyer," Noah said, and everyone said 'wow.' No one could believe it.

"I guess Glee really fixed you," Sam chuckled. "In high school we all thought you would wind up being a…" His voice trailed off. What he had been about to say was rude.

"I'm not allowed to say what I am," Brittany said cautiously, "especially since there's a lawyer here. It's illegal."

"My husband and I are both real estate agents," Quinn said, squeezing Bill's hand, but she couldn't stop looking at Noah.

"Hey," John said quietly to me. "Looks like your mom's real into your dad."

"That's ridiculous," I denied it. "They didn't even really care about each other in high school. He was a heartbreaker and she liked Finn."

"Does anyone have kids?" Artie asked. "Tabitha and I have a son named Brian."

"Mike and I have a son named Michael, like Mike," Tina said. Everyone chuckled.

"No, no kids," Sam said, and he and Emily blushed as though they thought they would disappoint everyone by saying they didn't have children.

"Seven kids," Mercedes laughed, and everyone's jaws dropped.

"Yeah," Shane chuckled. "Keisha, Dion, Devon, Desiree, Leroy, Myron, and Latoya."

"I have a daughter named Savannah," said Finn. Rachel smiled at him.

"Rachel and I have a daughter named Angelina Barbra St. James," Jesse said.

"Blaine and I have a kid named Oliver," Sebastian said. For some reason, Sebastian didn't strike me as the kind of guy who would have a kid. He seemed too playful. "What about you, Kurt?" Sebastian cocked his head. "Do you have kids?"

"No, Mr. Stork forgot to deliver one at my apartment," Kurt chuckled.

"I knew storks brought babies," Brittany whispered.

"Leslie and I have a daughter named Nina," said Santana.

"What about you, Noah?" Artie asked, and I crossed my fingers. I didn't want Noah to have had children, or Quinn.

"No, Lauren never wanted any," Noah sighed, "even though I always did."

"I told him if he wants kids, then he can be pregnant," Lauren said strictly.

"Bill and I have children," Quinn said, and my heart sank. "Drew and Kristen."

Drew and Kristen were apparently so special that Quinn didn't mind keeping them after she'd gotten rid of me. More tears fell down my cheek.

"Hey, are you okay?" John asked me.

"No, not really," I sniffed, wiping a tear off of my cheek. "I need a minute."

I stood up and walked quickly over to the women's room. I hurried into a stall, locked the door, and started crying loudly. I didn't know why I was crying so much. I was such an idiot. All she did was say she had children! It wasn't like someone died. What was my problem? I supposed it was just that the fact that she had children gave me a sense of worthlessness. I wasn't good enough. I stayed in that stall for about fifteen minutes. I was about to leave when I heard someone else enter the bathroom.

She was a woman, and she was crying too. I waited and listened.

I looked around the stall door and saw Quinn standing by the sink.

I never thought I would see her cry. Her mascara was running. She sniffed and wiped her tears away the way I'd done. I should have been glad to see her cry after all the pain she'd caused me, but for some reason I didn't. I felt sad, and I pitied her. And just then she started to sing.

_"I was cheated by you, and I think you know when. So I made up my mind; it must come to an end. Look at me now. Will I ever learn? I don't know how, but I suddenly lose control. There's a fire within my soul. Just one look and I can hear a bell ring. One more look and I forget everything. Whoa. Mamma Mia! Here I go again. My, my! How can I resist you? Mamma Mia! Does it show again? My, my! Just how much I missed you? Yes, I've been brokenhearted. Blue since the day we parted. Why, why did I ever let you go? Mamma Mia! Now I really know. My, my! I should not have let you go! I've been angry and sad about things that you do. I can't count all the times I told you we're through. But when you go, when you slam the door, I think you know that you won't be away too long. You know that I'm not that strong."_

I saw around the stall door that she was practically dancing, spinning around in circles occasionally_. "One more look and I forget everything. Whoa. Mamma Mia! Here I go again. My, my! How can I resist you? Mamma Mia! Does it show again? My, my! Just how much I missed you? Yes, I've been brokenhearted. Blue since the day we parted. Why, why did I ever let you go? Mamma Mia! Now I really know. My, my! I should not have let you go!"_

I wanted to know why the heck she was singing, and who she was singing too. She took a deep breath, stared at reflection in the mirror, and shook her head. "My God Noah Puckerman, why are you doing this to me?"

My eyes widened. John was right. Quinn had it bad for my dad.

Quinn took a few more deep breaths, collected herself, reapplied her makeup, and left the bathroom. I waited five more minutes before leaving the bathroom myself. When I did, what I saw shocked me. John was talking to the old New Directions, including Noah and Quinn! When he saw me, he waved me over and said, "New Directions, meet my friend Beth. She's the girl who helped me make this reunion possible."

Most of the old members of New Directions became uncomfortable after John introduced me because they knew who I was. They remembered when Quinn was pregnant with me. They were nervous about how Quinn and Noah would react to me. I glanced quickly at Noah and saw that he looked overwhelmingly happy, like he was about to cry tears of joy.

Quinn, however, reacted differently. She looked furious. This was all some big joke to her. Her daughter - her accident, her mistake from the past, her greatest failure - had brought all of her old enemies together to haunt her. This was some kind of nightmare for her. I knew this was a bad idea. It didn't matter that John didn't.

"What's the matter, honey?" Bill asked his wife curiously. "Do you know this girl?"

Quinn crossed her arms and glared at me. "No. I don't. Let's go, Bill."

My heart broke as my mother turned around and led her husband away.

"Hello Beth," Artie said, trying to smile cheerfully, even after what Quinn had just done. "I never would have guessed you were behind this." I know he didn't mean it in a bad way, but the way he worded it - 'you were behind this' - sounded accusatory.

"Yeah, this was really… creative," Finn decided.

"Yeah," I chuckled. Like I would be able to keep a smile on my face after my mom claimed not to know me and walked out. I didn't know what else to say.

"Thanks for inviting us. I had a lovely time," Rachel said anxiously. She seemed bitter about something, bitter about me. I wondered if she was jealous that I was raised by the mother she never had.

"You're welcome." I meant it just as little as she did.

"Beth," Noah sighed loudly, shaking his head. "I'm… I'm speechless."

"Me too," I said honestly. I honestly, honestly didn't know what to say.

I'd never felt so awkward in my life. They all just sat there, staring at me. They looked so uncomfortable, so anxious to leave, so embarrassed. I wanted to run away, somewhere far, far away from Lima. I wanted to go to Canada and change my name or something. I never wanted to see John again, or Noah, or Quinn, or even Shelby. This was the worst night of my life. I'd always known that my mother hated me. But to have it confirmed… to have proof… to be rejected in person… that hurt so bad.

To my astonishment, Brittany stood up and ran over to me. She had a bright smile on her face, a genuine one. Not like the insincere ones Artie and Finn had been styling. Then she gave me a big hug and said, "Thank you, Beth!"

"You're welcome," I said, slowly returning the hug.

The other members of the old New Directions exchanged looks and then finally they stood up, one by one giving me a hug. Not Lauren, of course. She hated me because I was the one thing that Noah and Quinn shared, like I would come between her and her husband. I hugged Artie, and then Finn. Then I hugged Sam.

"It's nice to meet you, Beth," he said kindly.

"Thank you for bringing us all together again," Tina said.

"This was really thoughtful of you," said Mike.

"Thanks, Beth," said Mercedes.

"It's nice to meet you," said Kurt.

"Thank you, Beth," said Blaine.

"Yeah," Rachel added to what Blaine had said.

"You're okay," Santana told me.

"Yeah, kid," said Sebastian with a wink and a phony smile plastered on his face. He'd spoken up after he saw Kurt and Blaine glance at each other. "Thanks for getting everyone back together again. It was good for everybody."

"Hey," Tina said with a bright smile. "I just thought of an idea. We all brought our kids to Lima, right? Why don't we all get our kids together like we were brought together, and maybe we can introduce them to each other and to Beth?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea," Mercedes said enthusiastically. "I've got seven kids and they really need to meet other kids to play with to distract them from each other once and a while." Everyone laughed. At least everyone was in a good mood now.

This was what every mother and father wanted, wasn't it? To round up their friend's kids and make a play date? But I was way older than everyone else's kids.

I was the bastard child, the accident that happened while my parents were still minors.

"Beth?" Noah said, approaching me cautiously.

"Yeah?" I said barely above a whisper.

"Can I talk to you? Would that be okay?" he wanted to know.

"Um… sure," I decided. "Yeah."

The old New Directions were back to talking about their lives and about their kids. I followed Noah outside so that we could have a talk, father to daughter. I could barely see my dad in the evening darkness. That was okay with me, though.

"Please," he sighed. "Can you give me the chance… to be your father?"

I shrugged. "You had that chance seventeen years ago."

"I would have kept you," he assured me. "I want you to know that. But Quinn didn't want to. But anyway, even she changed her mind in senior year. She wanted you back, and so did I. Did your mom -" He lowered his voice, "Shelby ever tell you that?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "She did. You guys wanted me back once it was too late, and you wanted to mess Shelby up."

"I didn't." He shook his head. "I loved your mom Quinn before she had you, but then I fell in love with Shelby. And I loved Shelby more. I didn't want to hurt her."

My eyes widened. "You were in love with Shelby?"

"Yes." He sounded bitter. "I guess she failed to mention that we had feelings for each other. Shelby cared about me too. I wanted to be in your life, but she and I got too close, and when she found out what Quinn was trying to do, she pushed me away."

"Wow." I stared down at my shoes. "Shelby never told me that."

"I always wanted to have children," Noah went on, "especially a daughter. You."

"You could have written a letter or something," I pointed out.

"I did."

"You did? I wonder if Shelby intercepted them -"

"No. She didn't. I never sent them."

"Why not?" I wanted to know.

"I was worried that I wasn't good enough for you, and I'm not," Noah explained. "I was a jerk - I've always been a jerk. I did terrible things when I was young. I lied, stole things, hurt people… I knew I would disappoint you. I'm not much of a father."

I shook my head. "I wouldn't have cared. I would have liked hearing from you."

"Really?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes," I said. "I don't care that you were a jerk, not really. I like you better than Quinn. She's just a horrible person."

"So, will you let me be your dad?" he asked hopefully. "Please, just give me a chance. I'd really like to try."

"Yes," I said, and I gave him a big hug. I hadn't hugged him earlier. This was our first hug. Even though I just met him, it felt like I'd known him all my life. It was a long hug that lasted for about seven minutes. I didn't want to let him go. I'd missed him for seventeen years and didn't want to miss him again. His suit was dampened by my tears. Only moments ago I'd thought this was the worst night of my life. I changed my mind. It was the best.

**. . . . . . . . . . . **

** Author's Note: As much as I wish they did, I don't really think Quinn and Puck care about each other in the TV show Glee, but I like them together. I like her best with him and him best with her, and I think it definitely works to have them together in this story. Also, the song "Mamma Mia" is the second Abba/Mamma Mia song I've used in this fic, and there will be more! I'm planning on using more of them, and also songs from other musicals. I've made a long list of songs that are going to be used in this fic, and it's a great lineup! School and Drama Club keep me busy, but I hope to update fanfiction frequently. **


	6. Perfectly

**Perfectly **

Tony Romano began his solo at Sectionals rehearsal, _"I wasn't jealous before we met. Now every man that I see is a potential threat. And I'm possessive; it isn't nice. I used to think that smoking was my only vice. But now it isn't true. Now everything is you. And all I've learned has overturned. I beg of you."_

I sang the first chorus with the rest of the girls, _"Don't go wasting your emotions. Lay all your love on me."_

Mary Parker sang the second verse_, "It was like shooting a sitting duck. Some simple small talk, a smile, and baby, I was stuck." _

It was the same old song. Mary finished her solo, the boys sang the second chorus, Mary and Tony sang the bridge together, and then everyone sang the last chorus. When Glee Club was over for the day, Mr. Schue announced, "Remember guys, we'll be holding auditions for the solo in our second song next week."

"Are you gonna audition for the solo?" John asked me.

"Why should I bother? Your girlfriend's gonna get it," I pointed out.

"Yeah, probably," he chuckled, glancing over at Mary. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try."

"Mary's had years of singing lessons and I started singing a month ago," I reminded him. "I should wait a few years before auditioning for a solo."

"Beth, I'll see you at home," Shelby told me. "Mr. Schuester and I have been called for a meeting with Principal Abrams. I'm worried we're going to get fired."

No, Artie wouldn't. Not after Shelby's adopted daughter Beth, a.k.a., me, had invited him to a fun reunion with all of his old friends. He wouldn't dare! Or at least, I hoped he wouldn't. "Maybe not, Mom," I said with an optimistic smile.

"I hope not, sweetie," Shelby sighed. "Anyway, I'll see you at home."

"Bye," I said, walking into the hallway. As I approached my locker, I heard the sound of high heels behind me. I turned around and saw a familiar, pretty blonde woman dressed in pink. Quinn. She had a bright smile on her face.

"Hello," she said in a friendly tone.

I groaned. "Sorry, I don't talk to strangers." I opened my locker and avoided eye contact with her.

"I'm not a stranger," she said, her smile fading.

"You're not?" I scoffed. "You said you didn't know me at Breadstix."

She gave a tired sigh. "Look. My husband doesn't know that I have a daughter. He has no idea that I was pregnant in high school. He thinks that the only children I have are his."

"You probably should have told him the truth a long time ago," I shrugged.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, causing me to drop one of my text books.

"You're distracting me," I snapped at her.

"Hey, just because I always used that tone as a teenager doesn't mean you're allowed to use it with me," she snapped back.

"Why not?" I wanted to know. "You're not my mother. Shelby's my mother."

"I really wanna be your mom," she sighed.

"Wait a second," I said after slamming my locker shut. "You know that Noah offered to be my father, so you're competing with him."

"He already got to be around you when you were little. Shelby decided not to let me anywhere near you. Why shouldn't I get my chance to know my own daughter?"

"She had good reason not to let you near me," I huffed. "You tried to get her arrested -"

"If you're so mad at me, then why did you invite me to Lima? Why did you want to see me?" Quinn asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Because I was curious about my real mom," I replied. "I'm only human."

"But you believe that Shelby was right not to let me near you," she pointed out.

"Yeah… but…" I looked down. "I guess that I thought, before you blew me off at Breadstix, that maybe we could become a family."

She smiled. "I wanna take you out to lunch. The Lima Bean."

"I told Shelby I'm going home," I informed her.

"Send her a text message letting her know that you changed your mind and are going to be at a friend's house," she suggested.

I didn't know how to tell her that I didn't really have any friends, so I just said, "Okay," and sent Shelby a message.

**Beth: I'm going to Hummel's Tire & Lube to help Finn.**

"Let's go," Quinn said with a fabulous smile, and I followed the stylish woman outside to her car. I had dreamed of going to lunch with my real mom for quite a while, but I never imagined I'd be this uncomfortable about it. Sure, I knew it would be an awkward experience, and I knew that Quinn wasn't a very nice person, but I never thought she'd be this judgmental.

"It must be difficult making time for cheerleading practice when you've got Glee rehearsal every day," Quinn chuckled as she began driving. "But it isn't impossible. I was able to do both back when I was in high school too."

I blushed. "I'm not a cheerleader."

"You're not?" She sounded surprised. "Oh well, I guess you can't make the squad every year."

"I didn't even try out," I mumbled.

"Why not?" she asked in an almost accusatory tone. "Is the coach a bitch? When I was in high school, our coach Sue Sylvester was a bitch, but that never stopped me -"

"No, I just never really cared to try out." I'd rolled my eyes after she cussed.

"Oh." She was quiet for a few minutes. "Well, I guess that's okay. I mean, you're a senior. Your life is very busy. You've got homework, a boyfriend -"

"I don't have a boyfriend," I interrupted.

"Wait…" She sounded worried. "You're not a lesbian, are you?"

"No!" I shouted. "I am _not_ a lesbian! I'm straight! Boys don't notice me."

"Oh." She seemed surprised. "Well… whatever. Let's go eat."

We got out of the car and she held the door for me at the Lima Bean. I sat down and waited as she got in line to order. I looked around awkwardly and sat nervously. I'd already disappointed my mother and I hadn't known her for more than twenty minutes. If I said one more word, I would lose her forever.

Just then Bruce Driggers and Adam Benson passed by me. "Ew," Bruce said loudly to Adam, staring at me. "It's that weird girl Beth Corcoran."

Adam cackled. "She's such a freak. I didn't expect to see her somewhere cool."

They walked over to a table and sat down and I stiffened. Had they really just said that, and so loudly? Quinn expected me to have a boyfriend when boys thought so lowly of me. These were probably guys that she would have dated in high school.

"Here you go," Quinn said when she returned, handing me a cheeseburger and a soda. She folded her hands, smiled, and said, "So, tell me about yourself."

"What about myself?" I was curious.

"What are your likes and your dislikes?" she asked. "Talents, hobbies, what?"

I thought about it. "Um… that's a hard question."

She frowned. "You don't like anything?"

"No, no, I do," I assured her. "But I don't think about it very often. I guess I like to sing… and write…"

"Do you like sports?"

"Yeah, I played sports years ago, but I stopped."

"Why?"

"I wasn't good enough at them."

She sat there for a few minutes, staring blankly at me. Then she changed the subject, "Tell me about your friends."

I didn't really have friends, but I had people that I pretended were my friends. I could tell her about them. "I hang out with girls named Maddie and Vanessa. They're the coolest, most popular girls in the twelfth grade."

Quinn finally looked impressed. "Really?"

"Yeah, but they're kind of mean to other people," I shrugged. "I don't like that about them."

"Oh." Her smile faded and she was quiet again. She didn't speak for the rest of our outing. She just sat there eating, and I sat there eating. When we were done, she spoke, "I'm gonna drive you back to McKinley so that you can get your car and go home."

"Okay," I said quietly. We stood up and went outside into her car. I couldn't keep my feelings inside anymore. I had to let them out. Suddenly tears made stripes down my cheeks and I shouted at her as she drove, "Why did you stop talking to me?"

"Uh, I wasn't sure what else to talk about," she replied. "I think we covered everything."

"You were so unimpressed with me that you stopped talking!" I snapped at her. "You hate me because I'm not good enough for you!"

"I don't hate you, Beth," she argued. "We just don't have anything in common."

"I know you gave me up when I was born, but you can't just give me up now! Not just because we have nothing in common! You're my mother!"

"You said that Shelby was your mother," she reminded me.

I'd never been so angry in my life. When we arrived in the McKinley parking lot, I got out of the car, slammed the fragile door of her precious, expensive vehicle and stomped over to my own car. I got in, started driving, and began singing,

_"I like who I am, but I guess you don't. I think that I can, but you think I won't amount to anything at all. If you love me, you sure show it strange. Is there anything that you wouldn't change? I can't be your paper doll. I wanna be perfect, but I'm me. I wanna be flawless, but you see every little crack, every chip, every dent, every little mistake. Yeah. I wanna be perfect, just like you. But there's only so much that a girl can do." _

I stared at my reflection in the rear view mirror_. "When I look in the mirror, what I see makes sense to me. Yeah. Perfectly. I like worn-out shoes; you like high heels and fantasies, but I'm what's real. I guess you might say the shoes don't fit. Maybe I'm from Venus; you're from Mars. My imperfections are what they are. I can't be your paper doll. I wanna be perfect, but I'm me. I wanna be flawless, but you see every little crack, every chip, every dent, every little mistake. Yeah. I wanna be perfect, just like you. But there's only so much that a girl can do. When I look in the mirror, what I see makes sense to me. Yeah. Perfectly."_

I got home, slammed the apartment door shut, ran to my room, jumped on my bed, cried, and held onto the stuffed white elephant I'd owned since I was a baby: my favorite doll. It wasn't bad enough that two boys had called me a freak for absolutely no reason, but then my own mom had to reject me. If I'd told Quinn what they'd said about me, she would have hated me even more. She wanted me to have a boyfriend. She wanted me to be like her when she was in high school.

Just then I remembered Steven from Maddie's Halloween party. He thought I was attractive. Hopefully he didn't have a girlfriend now. I decided to call him. If I could get him to be my boyfriend, maybe Quinn would like me better. 555-678-9101.

_"Hello?" _

"Hi Steven, it's me. Beth."

_"Beth, who?"_

"Beth, the girl who was dressed as a cheerleader at Maddie's Halloween party."

_"Oh!"_ Yes, he sounded excited! _"I didn't think I'd ever hear from you again! Hey, what's up?"_

"I was wondering if you'd like to meet up somewhere."

_"Sure. When?" _

"Uh….. Any time."

_"How about tonight? Me and a couple of the guys from my fraternity are going to the nightclubs downtown."_

A club at night with a bunch of frat boys? I didn't think so.

"I'm not eighteen yet," I explained.

_"Just show them your driver's license and you'll be good,"_ he said.

"Yeah, but I've never been to a club before."

_"Come on. It's a lot of fun. Can you come at nine?"_

I sighed. "Fine." I knew it wasn't a good idea, but my life lacked adventure and excitement. I wasn't going to drink when I got to the nightclub, but maybe I would enjoy myself even so. Shelby came home and said that Principal Abrams told her and Mr. Schue that he would keep them around as Glee Club coaches! He wouldn't fire them. I didn't tell her that it was probably thanks to me that he was keeping them.

"Mom, I'm going to Kimberly's house for a sleepover," I explained.

"With thick eye shadow, a brown leather jacket, boots, and skinny jeans?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maddie's gonna be there, and she wants to have a fashion show," I lied.

"Fine," Shelby sighed. "Call me before you go to bed so I know you're okay."

"Okay." I felt bad for lying to her. "Bye, Mom." I kissed her head.

"Bye, sweetie," she said, and I was out the door. I took a deep breath, went downstairs, got into my car, and started driving downtown. I observed my blonde perm and bright red lip stick in the rear view mirror. I wondered if the guys from Steven's frat would think I was as attractive as Steven did, or if they would convince him that I was a dog and have him change his mind about me. I was worried. I was nervous. And what if they were attracted to me? I hoped the frat boys wouldn't try to take advantage of me.

I found the club. Loud music was playing. I could hear it from across the street. I approached a bouncer and showed him my license. He nodded and I walked past him into the club, looking all around for Steven. After about seven minutes of looking, I found him over by the DJ talking to a group of guys that I presumed to be his frat brothers. They seemed like the typical frat boys: loud, confident, immature. Steven looked great. He was wearing a black leather jacket, white t, and pair of jeans. He apparently saw me too because he pointed at me with the hand he wasn't holding a drink in. After he pointed at me, his friend who had slight facial hair looked especially interested. The other frat boys only looked slightly.

"There she is!" Steven announced, giving me a hug with one of his arms. "I saw you coming from across the room," he told me. "You were just hot enough to be the girl Beth I met on Halloween."

I blushed. He really thought I was hot. "I saw you from across the room too," I said shyly. "And I knew it was you. You were just hot enough to be you."

His friend with the facial hair laughed. I must have sounded like an idiot.

"Cute," he said, nodding.

"Hey Beth, wanna dance?" Steven asked me, and I nodded. I grinded with him, and his friend watched in the background with great interest. "I think when we met I forgot to tell you that I'm on the football team at my school."

Somebody, pinch me! I was grinding with a football player. "Yeah, you did."

He looked surprised. "I told you?"

"No, you forgot to tell me," I shouted over the loud music.

"Oh," he said. "Well, now you know."

"Yup," I said.

"You didn't tell me a lot about yourself," he pointed out.

"Well, I have a good singing voice," I shrugged.

"That's cool," he said with a smile. "I do remember you said you could do gymnastics."

"Yeah, I used to take gymnastics when I was little," I explained. "But I haven't done them in a while…. I like to shop. I like to hang out with my friends."

"Sweet," he said, nodding. "Are you gonna be in a sorority when you're in college?"

"I'd like to be," I replied.

"Awesome. Maybe you can go to my college and we could date or something."

"We're not dating now?"

"Uh… we are if you want us to be."

"Steven, will you go out with me?" I asked with a grin.

"Wait just a minute," he laughed. "I'm the guy. I should be asking you out. Beth, will you go out with me?"

I nodded and threw my arms around his shoulders. "I would love to!"

"Awesome," he said, wrapping his arms around my midsection.

"Hey," I began, feeling the adrenaline in my veins. "You wanna make out?"

"Sure," he said excitedly. I'd never made out with anyone before, but I couldn't let him know that. I didn't know why I was being so forward with him when he was my first boyfriend. I should have been taking things slowly, but I wanted to impress Quinn. I also couldn't deny the rush having a super hot boyfriend made me feel. I almost wanted to ask him to go all the way with me then and there. I felt his hot lips press against my own. His tongue demanded entrance, and I opened my mouth and let him in. Our tongues fought for dominance, but he won. We made out passionately for a few minutes. It was my first ever kiss, and it was the best one I could ever have imagined.

"Whoo! Go, Steven!" his friend cheered obnoxiously.

"I gotta go," I told Steven afterward. After we kissed, I became nervous. I finally realized that I wasn't ready for any of this. Not yet. "My mom will be worried about me."

"You're in twelfth grade, Beth," he laughed. "Your mom doesn't have to know where you are at all times."

"I know," I shrugged. "But I want her to know." I turned around, ran outside, got into my car, and drove home. I opened the door to our apartment and found Shelby talking to Noah in our living room. My jaw dropped and I stood there in the doorway.

"Beth," Shelby said in surprise. "I thought you'd be at Kimberly's all night."

"I changed my mind," I explained. "Everyone was watching horror movies, and I was too scared to stay."

"Noah and I were just talking about you," Shelby informed me. "I was letting him know what you've been up to since he's seen you."

"You sound like a very responsible girl, Beth," Noah said kindly. "Not at all like me. When I was your age, I was going to clubs and getting in trouble."

I chuckled nervously. "Yeah, not at all like you."

"Shelby told me that you still have that white elephant I stole - I mean, bought for you," Noah went on. "Also that drawing of a clown-pig. She mentioned that you like to play soccer and read Batman comic books. That was when I knew for sure that you were my kid," he chuckled. "We should hang out sometime."

"We should," I agreed. He and I had already had this conversation outside Breadstix on the night of the New Directions reunion.

"I brought you a present," Noah said, handing me a glittery pink microphone. "You're in Glee Club and you like to sing like I do. I thought you might like this."

"Thank you so much, Dad," I said, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

"Noah's going to be coming around a lot now," Shelby said, staring with admiration at my father. "He said he misses you, and wants to get to know you."

I smiled brightly at him. "I want to get to know you too."

"I'm gonna be your dad, Beth," Noah said, kissing my forehead. "We're gonna be a family."

**. . . . . . . . . . . **

** Author's Note: "Perfectly" isn't a well-known song. It's from the old Disney Channel Original Movie, "Pixel Perfect." I just thought the lyrics worked for this chapter and the current relationship between Beth and Quinn. Also, the reason why I'm including many ABBA songs from "Mamma Mia" in this fic like "Lay All Your Love On Me" is because that musical is about finding one's identity, and that's kind of what this story is about. I've been working on all of my fanfics lately, and hope to update as often as possible! I apologize for any lyrics mistakes. More of New Directions next chapter! **


	7. New Directions Jr

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.**

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**New Directions Jr. **

I was excited but surprised that everyone had decided to stay in Lima after the "reunion." Apparently Sam and Emily Evans, Mike and Tina Chang, and Mercedes and Shane Tinsley were staying at Artie and Tabitha Abrams' house. Kurt Hummel and David Karofsky, Rachel and Jesse St. James, and Noah Puckerman and Lauren Zizes were staying at Finn Hudson's house. Blaine and Sebastian, Santana and Leslie, and Quinn and Bill were staying at hotels. I didn't know where Brittany was.

Tina and Mercedes were adamant that I meet everyone's kids. I suppose it was every mother's dream to have her children play with the children of all her friends. Even though I was too old, I agreed to be part of the play date as long as it wasn't at Shelby's apartment. I arranged for us all to meet at Finn Hudson's house. Finn's house was small and a little drab for my taste, but the kids wouldn't care because they'd have each other to distract themselves with. Finn introduced me to his daughter Savannah.

"I like your coat," said Savannah, dressed in preppy, fashionable apparel.

"Thanks," I told her. "I got it on Macy's. Black Friday shopping."

'Cool," said Savannah, and Rachel's daughter Angelina ran up to me and waved.

"You're really pretty!" she told me.

"Wow, thank you!" I said, flattered. "You're really pretty too."

Dave, Kurt, and Noah walked up to me. "Kids, meet Noah's daughter Beth," Kurt said to Savannah and Angelina.

I laughed at him and then turned to Noah. "Hi Dad," I said, giving him a big hug.

"Hey kiddo," he replied, hugging back. "I'm sorry, but I gotta go in a minute. Lauren demands that I go shopping with her. I'm gonna buy a lot of things for her, and… so is she."

"That's okay," I sighed. I'd been hoping to spend some time with him today.

"Come on, Puckerman!" Lauren shouted. Noah smiled apologetically and walked away.

"Sorry about that, Beth," Kurt shrugged, crossing his arms. "Lauren has him at her beck and call."

"I don't think she likes me very much," I admitted. "She resents the fact that Noah has Quinn's daughter. I'm something they share."

"She might not like it, but she can't change the fact that Noah's your father," Kurt assured me. I was glad he was being so kind. Kurt seemed like a self-important guy who didn't spend a lot of time talking to teenagers, but it was nice that he was making an attempt with me.

"Thanks Kurt," I said. He smiled and started off to the guestroom, and Dave smiled awkwardly at me and then followed after him.

The bell rang and there in the doorway stood eight children. The six African Americans were Mercedes' and Shane's. They had seven children, so they must not have sent the baby over. The two other children that were there were Brian and Michael. Brian was Caucasian and was the son of Artie and Tabitha. Michael was Asian and was the son of Mike and Tina. Brian didn't have glasses like Artie, but Michael wore glasses. The two of them and Myron Tinsley were holding books.

"Michael, Myron, and I are going to find somewhere to read," Brian said as the children all entered the house.

The oldest Tinsley – Keisha – walked over to Savannah and Angelina and started talking to them about fashion. The remaining Tinsley's ran around yelling. The doorbell rang again and in came Quinn with my blond half-siblings Drew and Kristen. The kids didn't even greet me. Drew ran past to talk to Brian, Michael, and Myron, and Kristen ran past to talk to Keisha, Savannah, and Angelina.

"That's your brother and sister," Quinn said to me with a smile.

"Yes I know, but do _they_ know that?" I asked curiously.

"No," she sighed. "If I told them they would tell their father, and I'm not ready for Bill to know that I have another daughter yet. But for now, you can at least try to get to know them."

"They don't seem to care about me," I muttered, observing them. "They ran right by me. I'm probably not good enough for them…"

"You're good enough for me!" Quinn groaned. "Look, I apologize for how I was at the Lima Bean, okay? Are you happy?"

I let out a surrendering sigh. "Yeah, I'm happy."

"So will you try to get to know them?" she pleaded. "They are your brother and sister."

"_Half_-brother and sister," I corrected.

She smirked. _"Noah_ doesn't have kids to be brothers and sisters to you."

"First of all, you didn't have those kids so that they could be my siblings," I pointed out. "And is that why you came here today? To compete with Noah?"

"No, of course not!" she laughed. "But he went out to shop with his wife. I don't see him making an attempt to spend time with you today."

"At least _he_ doesn't go behind her back when he _does_ spend time with me," I snapped. "Your husband probably has no idea you're here."

"Actually, he knows I'm here," Quinn disagreed. "But he thinks it's just because Drew and Kristen are hanging out with the other kids –"

"Right, he doesn't know _I'm_ here," I said in annoyance. "I'll hang out with my 'siblings' once my mom tells them the truth."

Blaine and Sebastian arrived at the door with a boy who had curly auburn hair and hazel eyes. He was their son Oliver. "Hey Beth, meet Oliver," Blaine said in a friendly tone to me. "He said he wanted to spend some time with you. He's nervous about meeting the other little kids."

All the other children wanted to spend time with each other, but this one actually wanted to spend time with _me!_ Oliver seemed shy. That was okay. I was shy too. He took my hand and blushed when he looked up at me. Quinn looked at Blaine and Sebastian with disapproval.

"Don't worry Blaine and Sebastian, I'll make sure he feels welcome here," I assured them with a warm smile on my face.

"Thank you Beth," Blaine said, smiling back. He kissed Oliver's cheek. "See you later, buddy."

"Yeah, pal." Sebastian mussed his son's hair. "Beth here will bring you out of your shell."

"Bye Dads!" Oliver called after them as they walked back to their car.

"I'm okay with a man being gay," Quinn said to me. "I guess I just don't love to see them married to each other with kids. I think children should have a mother and a father, not two fathers. It just makes me wonder which one's the wife –"

I walked away with Oliver before she could finish. After all, she was insulting his parents!

"Hey, you know Angelina," I told Oliver. "Your dads are friends with her parents, and she's a good friend of yours. Why don't you let her introduce you to Savannah and Keisha?" Kristen was no longer standing with them.

"Yeah," said Oliver quietly.

"Oliver!" Angelina called, waving at him. "Come over here!"

"See," I said to him. "I'll come visit you in a few minutes to spend time with you, but first you should meet Savannah and Keisha."

He nodded and went over to them. Angelina took his hand and said "This is my friend Oliver! He has two dads like I have two grandpas! My mom has two dads!"

I walked over to the door when Santana and Leslie arrived with their blonde curly-haired daughter Nina.

"Come on in!" I told Nina with a big smile on my face. She smiled at me and then ran over to Kristen, who was now standing by herself. Nina and Kristen looked happy to talk to each other, but Quinn didn't look as happy.

"Hey Quinny," Santana said in a sing-song voice, smiling at her. Quinn forced a smile in response. It was hard for me to believe there was a time they used to be best friends. Then Santana looked at me, laughed, and said, "Do you think you can handle baby-sitting all these kids, Beth?"

"I'm a patient girl," I chuckled. "Maybe ya'all can pay me for watching your kids."

"Maybe," Santana said smiling, and Leslie laughed. "Bye." The two of them left.

"Beth, can I please spend some time with you?" Quinn begged. "I really want to get to know you since you're my daughter. You don't get a second chance at a first impression, but I'd really like for us to start over."

I considered this. "Maybe if you tell your husband and kids about me. Then we could work something out."

Before she could say anything else, I went over to Oliver. "Hey honey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," he said with a smile.

"Good," I said. "I'll be back in a few minutes." I went over to the guestroom door and knocked.

"Who is it?" Dave Karofsky asked.

"It's me. Beth. Do you guys mind if I come in?" I asked.

"Uh, sure, come in," Dave replied after asking Kurt for an opinion. So I entered the room.

"Hi guys," I said, awkwardly standing in the doorway. "This is really random, but I'm thinking of writing a book about myself for Quinn and Noah. And it's not only about me. It's also about them. So I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions. I hope I'm not bothering you."

"Uh, no. Guess not," Dave shrugged.

"Of course not." Kurt smiled politely. "Ask anything."

"Do you remember when you found out that Quinn was pregnant with me?"

"Yes, I do," said Kurt. "I was in the choir room with Mercedes and Tina. Puck told us. We all thought you were Finn's."

"Oh that's right!" Dave laughed. "Everyone thought it was Finn's. I was a jerk and made fun of him. I thought it was payback for all the times he made fun of me in fifth grade."

So I was an 'it' now. "Everyone thought I was Finn's?" I said in surprise.

"Yes. Quinn lied that Finn was your father," Kurt explained. "She manipulated him into believing that you were conceived in a hot tub, while they were clothed."

I chuckled quietly. "That sounds like something she would do."

Kurt laughed. "Yes, well, I don't think you're like her at all."

I took a moment to look at Kurt. I observed his soft, coifed brown hair, his sparkling blue eyes, long white neck, and the way he bit his full lower lip. He started to look uncomfortable. He must have noticed the way I was looking at him. "Oh, what's wrong?" he asked self-consciously.

"Oh, n-nothing," I said in embarrassment. "It's just that… you're _gorgeous,_ if you don't mind my saying so."

He blushed and gave a small smile. "Well, thank you."

Dave chuckled defensively. "You're not the only one that thinks so," he told me, putting a protective arm around Kurt. The way Kurt grimaced under his touch made me realize that the two of them made a very awkward couple.

"Actually," I continued to Kurt, "you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my entire life."

Kurt laughed quietly. "You're a very nice girl to say that…. Dave, would you please go find Finn and ask him if he could invite my father over for dinner tonight?"

"_You_ can't go ask him?" Dave wanted to clarify.

"Just… please do it," Kurt said under his breath, so Dave stood up and left the room.

"How… does Blaine feel about you?" I asked Kurt once we were alone.

He shrugged his slender shoulders and took a deep breath. "Well, I don't know. He and I dated in high school. We had problems. For a while I thought he was perfect, but we competed a lot, and after our relationship became… physical, he seemed to suddenly be interested in Sebastian – really. I don't want to talk about this."

"I know, but I get the sense that you don't want to be with Dave," I said, getting personal. "I think you want to be with Blaine, and I think he wants to be with you."

"He sleeps around," Kurt continued, "yet Blaine's been in a relationship with him since the end of his junior year, my senior year of high school. He stays with him no matter how many times they cheat on each other."

I shook my head. "I wouldn't stay with someone who cheated on me that many times."

"Well," Kurt said bitterly, "Sebastian exudes sex appeal and confidence that I suppose is alluring to Blaine –"

"He's got nothing on you," I scoffed. "That's my opinion. If I was a gay guy, I would definitely choose you over him."

Kurt looked embarrassed, but gave a cute laugh. "You're a funny girl."

I sat and talked with him for hours. As reserved as we both were, we really enjoyed each other's company. Little by little, the parents arrived at Finn's house to retrieve their kids. I wasn't out in the living room to say good bye to the children though. Kurt and I had to leave the guestroom when we heard yelling though. It sounded like Santana and Quinn. "What the hell's going on?" I asked.

"Nina said that Kristen told her they can't be friends because she has two mommies instead of a mommy and a daddy!" Santana explained. "Gee, I wonder who told her that!"

"Quinn, how could you?" Kurt shrieked. It was the shrillest sound I ever heard in my life.

"You shut up!" Quinn snapped at him. "You don't even _have_ a child! Stay out of this!"

"After all those years you spent in Glee Club, you didn't gain an ounce of tolerance?" Kurt went on. "I guess after you graduated high school you went back to being that right-winged homophobe you were before you got pregnant, huh? Why are you so frigid? Your daughter's not gonna catch 'gay' by hanging out with a girl with a lesbian mother!"

"You're calling me 'intolerant'?" Quinn scoffed. "What do you have against right-winged conservatives, _Prom Queen?"_ After Quinn said that, Kurt looked hurt. Then Quinn said, "Stop insulting me in front of my kids!" She jerked her head in my direction.

"I'm not your kid," I said coldly.

"What?" Quinn sounded devastated.

"You're not my mother," I said louder. "Shelby's my mother. You're a horrible person. I don't even know you."

"Beth!" she called after me when I left the house, got into my car, and drove home. And then I felt bad. I shouldn't have been so mean to Quinn. Maybe she'd told Kristen not to hang out with Santana's daughter because she was angry about me not wanting to spend time with her and felt she needed to take it out on somewhere else. I wanted to go back and apologize to Quinn.

But I didn't. I continued on home, making her wonder what was wrong with me. After all, she would have done the same thing.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

**Author's Note: Poor Quinn, poor Santana, poor Kurt, poor Nina. Gosh, I feel bad for everyone after having written this chapter. Happy day after Thanksgiving, everyone! Sadly, Thanksgiving break's almost over and I'll be really busy when school starts again, but hopefully I'll be able to update often. And hopefully the characters will be happier in the next chapter, and we'll see another side of Quinn. Bye! **


	8. Sectionals

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.**

**There is a celebrity cameo in this chapter.**

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**Sectionals **

The time had come for my very first trip to Sectionals. On the bus John sat with Mary so I wouldn't be able to talk to him. I sat next to a girl with glasses named Anna. I listened to my iPod and stared out the window as we drove over to Carmel High, where Sectionals were going to be held this year. Their auditorium was huge, so Sectionals was held there many years. I liked the dress that I and all the other girls were wearing. It was a pale blue with silver sparkles. Right now it was early December, and the dress design looked very wintry. When we arrived at Carmel, we saw a large Christmas tree in the middle of the lobby next to the auditorium. The New Directions girls went into the bathroom to touch up on their makeup. I reapplied my sparkly lip gloss and talked to Anna.

"I think personally that if it weren't for Vocal Adrenaline, New Directions would probably win Sectionals every year," Anna told me.

"Shelby said that to me," I said. "They're apparently the best show choir in Ohio."

"Yeah, but we have something that they don't have," Anna chuckled.

"What's that?"

"Tony, John, and Mary."

"Oh, yeah."

All of us girls caught up with the boys in the lobby and then we hurried into the auditorium and sat down. An announcer said, _"And now, everyone welcome our judges: retired Lima news reporter Rod Remington, current country pop star Taylor Swift, and Broadway actress Rachel Berry!"_

"Taylor Swift?" Anna gasped excitedly.

"Rachel Berry!" I said in surprise. Wow, I was amazed that Rachel actually signed up to be a judge for Sectionals! It was a good thing I'd invited her to Ohio. Perhaps since her mom was one of the coaches for New Directions and since she used to be a part of New Directions, she would help us win.

A show choir called 'Choral Explosion' performed, and they were okay, but we were probably better. Vocal Adrenaline was next; they would probably be amazing. Carmel wouldn't have been hosting Sectionals if they had any doubt in their mind that their show choir would win the competition.

Yeah, it was obvious they were going to win. The Vocal Adrenaline contestants were doing acrobats all over the stage to start their performance. _Epic_. Vocal Adrenaline knew how to put on a show. A male singer began, _"Someone else has woken up inside of me. Something has just turned on a light in me. I feel a force flow through every artery now."_

A girl began, _"I can't get down; I woke up on the roof again. Round and round, spinning on the spot again. I can't explain the who, the where, the why, or the when, how!"_

Another guy sang, _"And I can feel it in my veins. It's a feeling I can't tame. Can anyone please explain why, why, why?" _

The whole choir, _"Why I'm bouncing off the walls? Bouncing off the walls! Bouncing off the walls! Bouncing off the walls!"_

The guy who'd sung at the beginning: _"A sun spot, I'm atomic energy. The atom split but left the best part of me. It's not static, just electricity. Wow, wow, wow, wow!"_

The whole choir, _"Bouncing off the walls! Bouncing off the walls! Bouncing off the walls! Bouncing off the walls! Bouncing off the walls! Bouncing off the walls! Oh! Oh!"_

That first guy had the solo again. He was obviously the choir's star performer: _"And I feel it in my soul, what I need to control. And I feel it in my bones. Let's rock and roll! Roll, roll, roll, roll!"_

"_Bouncing off the walls! Bouncing off the walls! Bouncing off the walls! Bouncing off the walls! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, alright!"_

As expected, there was a standing ovation. That was the most incredible thing I'd ever seen in my entire life. Damn, how were we going to compete with an epic performance that theatrical, even if we did have Rachel Berry on the panel of judges?

During the lunch break, New Directions relocated to the greenroom so that we could have a few extra moments to rehearse and relax before our performance. Everyone was drinking water, and a lot of people were freaking out.

"Don't be so nervous, guys," a boy named Thomas groaned. "We already know we're gonna lose. Did you _see _Vocal Adrenaline? They're unbeatable."

"Don't talk like that!" said Shelby. "We definitely have a chance at winning! We've worked very hard for this!"

"She's right, guys," said Mr. Schue. "Remember, Vocal Adrenaline is full of robots. New Directions has heart. And when it comes down to it, that's what matters. I think there's a chance that Taylor Swift would prefer us, and we also have Rachel to support us. Things are looking good for us."

I sat on a couch holding onto my heart and taking deep breaths.

Shelby came over and sat next to me. "What is it, Beth?" she asked.

"I've never performed on a stage before," I reminded her.

She smiled and took my hand. "You'll be great up there, I promise. I know you will be."

"Thanks, Mom," I said, giving her a hug.

"Oh, now it's time for you guys to get onstage," Shelby said after we were done hugging.

New Directions got up onstage and we performed our first song: "Lay All Your Love On Me' by ABBA. After that, John stepped toward the front of the stage for his solo. _"You can go; you can start all over again. You could try to find away to make another day go by. You can hide, hold all your feelings inside. You could try to carry on when all you wanna do is cry."_

The rest of New Directions swayed behind him and sang backup as he continued. _"And maybe someday we'll figure all this out. Try to put an end to all our doubt, and try to find away to make things better now that maybe someday we'll live our lives out loud. We'll be better off somehow, someday."_

Mary stepped forward and the two of them took each other's hands. John continued, _"Now we wait and try to find another mistake."_

Mary joined him and they sang together, _"If you throw it all away, then maybe you can change your mind."_

John continued solo, _"You can run, oh, and when everything is over and done."_

Mary joined him again, _"You could shine a little light on everything around you; man, it's good to be someone." _

The whole choir sang backup again, _"And maybe someday we'll figure all this out. Try to put an end to all our doubt, and try to find away to make things better now that maybe someday we'll live our lives out loud. We'll be better off somehow, someday."_

Briefly, John turned around and smiled at me, and then he turned back around to face the front and went on, _"And I don't wanna wait; I just wanna know. I just wanna hear you tell me, so give it to me straight or tell it to me slow. 'Cause maybe someday we'll figure all this out. We'll put an end to all our doubt. Try to find a way to just feel better now that maybe someday we'll live our lives out loud. We'll be better off somehow, someday."_

We all sang, _"'Cause sometimes we don't really notice just how good it can get. So maybe we should start all over. Start all over again. 'Cause sometimes we don't really notice just how good it can get. So maybe we should start all over. Start all over again." _

When we sang the last few verses of the song, I found myself watching John the entire time. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I'd always thought that John was cute, but I'd never seen him the way I was seeing him now. Now I saw him as something I _needed_. He was not a jerk, like the boys I was usually attracted to. John was kind, sweet, sensitive, and confident in who he was. He was my best friend.

The audience cheered after we finished and New Directions headed back to the greenroom to retrieve our things. Almost everyone in our Glee Club ran up to John to give him a big hug. Hugging him was different for me this time. It felt more special. And even though the hug only lasted a few moments, it felt to me like it lasted forever. The world had stopped, and it was just me and him. But when it was over, he kissed Mary on the lips and held her for a long time. I was brought back to reality.

"Beth!" called a familiar voice. It belonged to Quinn. I turned around and saw her standing there with her husband Bill and her children Drew and Kristen. They'd apparently been standing there on the stairs outside the greenroom, waiting for me.

"Quinn?" I said in surprise.

"You're a great singer, Beth," Bill said with a smile. "You got that from your mom."

"What?"

"Quinn told us," Bill explained. "She told us that you're her daughter. It was pretty exciting to hear that Quinn has another child."

"Now I finally have a sister!" Kristen said happily, clapping her hands. Drew stuck his tongue out at her and crossed his arms.

My jaw dropped. "You actually told them?" I said in disbelief to Quinn, and despite myself, I threw my arms around her and gave her a huge hug.

"Yes, I didn't want to keep it a secret any longer!" Quinn laughed cheerfully. "We want you to visit us any time you want. Maybe since you have Hanukkah with Shelby every year, you can spend Christmas with us this year."

"Shelby actually celebrates Christmas too," I pointed out. "But yeah, maybe I could spend Christmas with you all this year –"

"Hi Quinn," said Shelby quietly. She didn't look extremely happy to see her.

"Hello, Ms. Corcoran," Quinn cleared her throat, crossing her arms. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Shelby replied. "Beth, there's another lunch break coming up while the judges are making their decision. Do you want to go with me to the cafeteria?"

"Yeah, Mom," I said, following her.

"You've done a great job with her, Ms. Corcoran," Quinn said in a sugary sweet tone.

"Thank you," said Shelby, refusing to crack a smile. "Let's go, Beth."

I followed her to the cafeteria where the rest of New Directions was. I joined Anna at a table after having bought two slices of cheese pizza to eat.

"Joel is the lead singer for Vocal Adrenaline," Anna informed me. "He is smoking hot. Look, oh my gosh, here he comes!"

The muscular guy with dark hair who had sang lead in the song from "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark" approached our table and asked, "You guys are in New Directions, right?"

"Uh huh," we replied.

"You did a great job."

"Thanks. You did too!" I told him.

"Well," he chuckled, "may the best show choir win."

"See what I mean? He's so hot," Anna repeated as Joel turned around and walked away.

"Why don't you go for it, Anna?" I asked her. "Flirt with him or something."

She scoffed. "Why would I do that? He's gay."

"Joel's gay?" I asked. "Well, I guess a lot of guys in show choir are gay."

"I think that gives me a good excuse not to flirt with him, if you ask me," Anna chuckled.

Shelby was standing a few feet away from our table, and I could see that she didn't look happy when Quinn approached Anna and me. Kristen was with her, and Bill and Drew were buying pizza. Quinn and Kristen sat down and Quinn said, "I still think New Directions is going to win. You did great."

"Thanks," Anna said, smiling. "Wait… who are you?"

"I'm Beth's mom," Quinn replied in a voice that was so exaggeratedly sweet that it could have belonged to a Disney princess. It kind of startled me because Quinn didn't usually talk like that.

"I thought Shelby was Beth's mom," Anna said in confusion.

"She is," I assured her.

"But I'm Beth's _real _mother," Quinn explained.

"And I'm Beth's sister," Kristen said proudly.

"Half-sister," I chuckled.

"Oh, that's right. Beth's adopted," Anna remembered.

"I came to Ohio recently to visit Beth," Quinn said.

I laughed. "Actually you came because I invited you to a New Directions reunion."

"Yes, but I stayed for you," Quinn said. That part was true. If I wasn't here, she probably would have left after the 'reunion.' "And I'm going to be seeing Beth quite often now, so I was thinking that I should meet some of her friends because I want to be part of her life."

"Oh, that's cool." Anna nodded.

"Hey Quinn," I said, ready to impress her. "I kissed a boy."

Quinn's eyes widened. Kristen giggled. "Ooh, you kissed a boy!"

Anna hit me in the shoulder. "Shut up! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I forgot until now," I shrugged.

"Well, who is he?" Quinn was curious.

"His name is Steven. He's an athlete and he's in college," I said, beaming.

"No way!" Anna snapped. "Guys like that are totally out of our league, no offense to you."

"No, he's not out of her league," Quinn disagreed. Why shouldn't she disagree? She dated hot athletes all the time when she was in high school. "She's my daughter. Well that's awesome, Beth, but all you did was kiss him, right?"

"Of course," I assured her.

"Good," Shelby said suddenly, and I gasped. I didn't know she'd overheard! Shelby was standing right behind me and Quinn looking very unhappy. "And I'm glad that you feel obligated to keep things like these a secret from me. Thanks, Beth." She walked away in a huff.

"Yikes," said Anna, looking apologetic. "I guess Shelby doesn't appreciate you messing around with boys without telling her. You should have told her. She is your mom, after all."

"No, Beth told her mom," Quinn smirked. I guessed she was glad that I'd told her something I hadn't told Shelby. It made her feel like more of a mom to me than Shelby was.

"Okay guys; let's go back to the auditorium!" Mr. Schue announced. "The judges have made their decision!"

Before I went back to the auditorium I said to Quinn, "How long will you be staying in Ohio?"

"For as long as you want me to," she replied.

"Can you stay for a long time?" I asked hopefully. "But what about your job -?"

"Bill and I never took a vacation before, so we're using our vacation days now to be in Ohio," Quinn explained. "We can stay for a few more weeks. And you can always visit us in Virginia."

"Yay, thank you!" I told her as I followed everyone back into the auditorium.

Rachel Berry stood between Rod Remington and Taylor Swift at the front of the stage where all the competing show choirs were standing. Rachel smiled at everyone and then opened the envelope. "The winning show choir in this year's Sectionals competition is the New Directions!"

Oh my gosh! I guess it really had helped us that Rachel was one of the judges and that Shelby was her mom, because that must have been how we won. Vocal Adrenaline was amazing, so Mr. Schue was right. We had more heart, and that might have been what helped us. I ran over to Rachel and offered a hug. She accepted the invitation and told me, "I had a lot of say in the decision."

Awesome! This was my first year at Sectionals and we won and would be competing at Regionals! I hugged John and then Quinn. "I knew you would win, honey," she said in an uncharacteristically warm voice. It was a great moment, and my mom was finally there to share it with me.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . **

** Author's Note: It's funny that I wrote this chapter today because this past week I was just competing at Districts, which is like Sectionals for Drama kids. That made it especially easy for me to write this chapter. Also, I try to make each chapter set in the month or at the time that I'm writing it during, like I posted the Halloween chapter on Halloween, the Black Friday chapter on the day after Thanksgiving, and now this chapter set in early December and it really is early December. Sorry I don't update as often as I should. School and Drama keep me very busy. Bye! **


	9. With Family For The Holidays

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.**

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**With Family For The Holidays **

While imagining what it was going to be like to spend Christmas with a mother, a father, a brother, and a sister, I curled my hair in front of my bathroom mirror and sang softly, _"I am dreaming tonight of a place I love even more than I usually do. And although I know it's a long road back, I promise you I'll be home for Christmas. You can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe and presents under the tree. Christmas Eve will find you where the love lights gleam. I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams. If only in my dreams…" _

Shelby knocked on the door and came into the bathroom with a big smile on her face. "You look beautiful," she said, noticing my velvet red dress.

"Thank you," I told her, giving her a hug.

"Quinn's waiting for you down in the lobby," she explained. Quinn probably hadn't come up to the room because she and Shelby didn't particularly like each other. "She wants to take you on a surprise outing; just the two of you. And then her family is going to join you guys at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner."

It sounded like a glamorous evening, especially because I'd be going on a surprising outing with my real mom. "Mom, you don't have to look so happy about this," I told Shelby, noticing that she hadn't stopped grinning. "I get it, okay? You don't want me to be mad at you, so you're trying to act like you don't mind me spending time with Quinn. Don't worry. You're my real mother, and she'll never replace you -"

"No, it's not that. It really isn't," she said quickly. "I just want you to have a good time tonight. That's all." She hugged me again, and I left the room to go down to the lobby. There I saw Quinn, and to my surprise, she was wearing a very similar velvet red dress to the one I was wearing! We also both wore a red velvet coat and black tights.

"Wow, you really are my mother," I chuckled, giving her a hug.

"Yes, we have the same taste in clothes. It's like we're the same person," Quinn laughed in agreement. I took a moment to observe her. With her golden bob, red coat and dress, sparkling earrings, and glittering lip stick, she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in my entire life. This was my mom. She was gorgeous, looking like a model on the cover of a holiday magazine. "I have a surprise for you," she said cheerfully, handing me a ticket. "I bought us tickets to see The Nutcracker at the theater!"

"Oh my goodness, thank you!" I gasped, hugging her again. "I've wanted to see that show from the moment I heard about it!"

"Well, you'll be seeing it in less than an hour," she said with a grin. "I want this to be a special evening for you so that you'll be extra excited about spending Christmas with me and my family… your family, Beth." We linked arms and walked to her car.

Then we drove to the theater and got into a line of fashionably dressed people waiting to get their seats. It was like being at Broadway. "I'd like to see you have a solo at Regionals," Quinn said as we inched up in line.

I chuckled. "I'm definitely not ready to have a solo, especially at Regionals."

"Oh, I think you are," she disagreed. "You have a beautiful voice, and great presence. You look like a star too."

"I don't know," I sighed, looking down at my boots.

Just the other day Bruce Driggers and Adam Benson had been whispering in class, and I overheard them saying that I was ugly. I wondered why Steven had wanted to date me. Since I was so shy and nervous that I hadn't called him or asked him to go anywhere lately, he'd probably forgotten about me. I was destined to never have a man in my life. I certainly didn't 'look like a star.'

"I know so," Quinn assured me, and we linked arms again as we entered the theater to find our seats. My jaw dropped with amazement and my eyes widened when I saw how close we were sitting to the stage! "Wow, I didn't even expect this!" Quinn laughed. She looked happy when she saw the look of excitement on my face.

"This is incredible! Such a great view of the stage!" I pointed at it. "And we'll be so close to the performers that I'll almost feel like I'm a part of the show!"

"I'm so glad that I was able to do this for you, Beth," Quinn said, and I leaned my head on my mother's shoulder when we sat down before the show began.

The curtains lifted, and there was a lovely girl with long curly blonde hair dancing on the stage. She was Clara. Quinn said to me, "She reminds me of you. I could see you portraying Clara in this play."

"I don't know," I chuckled, noticing how graceful Clara was dancing. "She seems so elegant."

"You're very elegant too, Beth," she assured me.

I was so drawn into the ballet even though there were no words in it. I was mesmerized by the stunning costumes: the wintry fairies with their silver-blue gowns and other characters looking like candy canes with twinkling red and white stripes. The dancing, the set, and the music were all beautiful. It was like Quinn and I had escaped from reality and traveled into a magical world of wonder. I never wanted the ballet to end. When it did, Quinn told me, "I could see you dancing in a show like that."

"I don't know," I repeated. "I couldn't dance like that. I'm not that good."

"Sure you are," she disagreed. "You took gymnastics when you were a little girl. I'm not sure if you took ballet or dance because I know that Shelby thought it might give you impossible dreams, but I'm sure that you would be a wonderful dancer."

"Thank you, Mom," I said, and we went back to her car so that we could go over to the Cheesecake Factory. "Mom, I have to ask you something."

"Hmm?"

"When we talked at the Lima Bean last month… you seemed so unimpressed with me -"

"No, Beth, let me explain," she said, pulling into a CVS parking lot and parking the car so that she could talk to me. "I was not unimpressed with you. In fact, I was the opposite. I only acted like I was unimpressed because I was amazed at how much better than me you are. When I was in high school I was selfish and manipulative - I still am. But you're so sweet. You're such a good person. And I actually felt bad when you told me that you made out with a boy because I know that I pressured you into doing it."

I smiled wearily. "It's okay, Mom -"

"No, it isn't." She shook her head. "You're not like I was in high school. You're innocent, and you probably weren't ready to do that with a boy, especially an older one. Shelby raised you to be innocent. And you did it to impress me before you were ready. I am so sorry, Beth."

"Don't apologize," I told her. "I actually wanted to kiss Steven. Since I've never had a boyfriend, I feel undesirable, and I like Steven a lot. I'm attracted to him, and I think he might actually be attracted to me. I didn't feel pressured by you to kiss him."

Actually that had been what happened. Sure I'd been attracted to Steven, but I probably would have waited a little longer to kiss him, no matter how much I liked him. I would have dated him at the time that I asked him out, yes, but I probably would have waited just a little longer before kissing him. I didn't know a lot about guys or romance. It was a subject that Shelby liked to avoid talking to me about.

"Okay." She stroked my hair and then we got out of the car and walked into the Cheesecake Factory. It was a big, beautiful restaurant. Most of the time I ate at Breadstix, so it was nice to be here for a change. The hostess led us over to a table in the middle of the restaurant. Bill, Drew, and Kristen would be joining us soon.

"I'm really excited about spending Christmas with you guys," I said cheerfully after they showed up and sat down. Kristen was wearing a similar red dress, coat, and tights to the ones that I was wearing. She, Quinn, and I looked almost like a pair of triplets even though Quinn was our mother, I was a teenager, and Kristen was a little girl. Bill and Drew were wearing nice suits. Like father like son. Like mother like daughters. Drew and Kristen were only half-related to me, but I still felt like they were my family. Bill wasn't my father, but he was still nice enough to seem like one.

"We're excited to have you spend the holidays with us too," Bill told me.

"It'll be so fun!" Kristen said enthusiastically. "We're going to dress up, do each other's hair and makeup, and play with Barbies!"

Yay! It had been a while since it was acceptable for me to play with Barbies, but having a younger sister gave me a good excuse to do so. I'd always loved dolls, and they reminded me of my childhood. I missed being a little kid.

I enjoyed eating an expensive but delicious pasta and having fancy conversations with my new family. When dinner was over, we stepped outside into the cold, snowy air. I shivered and hugged my mother. It was freezing. Bill drove Drew and Kristen home, and Quinn drove me back to the apartment. I told her I had an amazing night, making her very happy. Then I went up the elevator and entered my living room. I heard Shelby talking and figured she must have been on the phone, but then I heard Noah's voice. He was in the room with her. Maybe it was like the last time, and they were talking about me again. They were probably waiting for me to return home. They were in Shelby's bedroom, so I opened the door and saw them making out on her bed!

I wasn't as shocked as I could have been since Noah told me that he had been in love with Shelby at one point, but I was horrified because a terrible idea came to mind: maybe Noah really hadn't wanted to get to know me and be my father. After all, he hadn't made as big as an effort as Quinn had made. Perhaps he'd told me that he wanted to be my father only so he could get back with Shelby. He probably didn't care about me at all. They looked mortified to see me standing there, and collected themselves immediately.

"Beth, you look horrified," Shelby sighed.

"Yeah… that's typically how a person looks after seeing their dad and adopted mother make out," I pointed out.

"You should have knocked!" Shelby groaned, pointing at the door.

"Yeah, I could have, but I didn't think you'd be doing anything!" I shouted. "I thought you'd be waiting for me to get home. No wonder you were so happy that I was leaving the house tonight. You wanted time alone with my dad."

"Beth, I am so sorry," Noah said in a genuinely apologetic tone of voice. "I did come over to wait for you to get home. I wanted to see if you were still alive after an evening out with Quinn."

"I had a great time with Quinn and I am alive, thank you," I said sternly, crossing my arms.

Noah sighed and continued, "Shelby and I got talking, and then this happened spontaneously. We didn't plan it at all."

"I don't believe you," I said coldly. "I believe that the only reason you offered to be my father was so that you could get back to Shelby."

"No, that's not at all why!" Noah argued.

"He's telling the truth, Beth," Shelby assured me. "Really."

A small part of me did believe him, but I was too mortified to admit it or forgive him. I was thinking too much about me and not enough about them.

Noah sighed, stuck his hands in his pockets, and started toward the door. He looked at me and said "I really am sorry, Beth. I let you down, which is something I was afraid I would do. I'm going to leave now. Bye." He left the apartment.

"I am so sorry, Beth," Shelby apologized. "We shouldn't have -"

"I forgive you, Mom," I said, tears filling my eyes. "And I forgive him too. I understand that you guys care about each other. I feel bad for being so mean to him. What can I do?"

"He might still be downstairs," Shelby pointed out. "Maybe if you go now you can still catch him."

I bolted down the stairs to find my father. I did find him. But with Quinn.

"I love Shelby, Quinn," Noah told her. "I haven't loved you for a long time."

"I haven't loved you for a long time either," she chuckled, crossing her arms.

I went over behind a couch, knelt down, and hid, listening to them.

Quinn went on, "But I would invite you to spend Christmas with Beth and the rest of my family, if I loved you."

"But you don't," Noah reminded her.

"No, I don't," Quinn chuckled. "But somehow I can see just exactly how I'd be_… if I loved you, time and again I would try to say all I'd want you to know. If I loved you, words wouldn't come in an easy way. Round in circles I'd go. Longin' to tell you but afraid and shy, I'd let my golden chances pass me by. Soon you'd leave me; off you would go in the mist of day. Never, never to know how I loved you, if I loved you."_

"I would get a divorce from Lauren and spend every moment I have with you when you're not around your husband," Noah told her, and I was amazed by how heartfelt they sounded. "If I loved you."

"But you don't," Quinn reminded her.

"No, I don't," said Noah. "But somehow I can see just exactly how I'd be_… if I loved you, time and again I would try to say all I'd want you to know. If I loved you, words wouldn't come in an easy way. Round in circles I'd go. Longin' to tell you but afraid and shy, I'd let my golden chances pass me by. Soon you'd leave me; off you would go in the mist of day. Never, never to know how I loved you, if I loved you."_

And then it became very quiet. I peeked from behind the couch and peered at them. They were kissing on the lips! "This is wrong, Puck. We're both married," Quinn said, eventually stepping away from him.

"You called me 'Puck,'" Noah chuckled. Quinn chuckled as well, blushed, stared longingly at him for one last moment, and then left the apartment. I decided to stand up and confront Noah rather than apologize to him.

"Dad, I need to talk to you," I told him.

"I'm sorry, Beth." He seemed even more humiliated. "I didn't mean for you to see what just happened -"

"I don't mind what just happened," I explained. "I'm just confused. First you tell me that you want to be my father. Then you seem to just be wanting to get to Shelby. And now you're acting like you're in love with Quinn."

"So, what do you wanna know?" he asked curiously.

I began, _"I've seen you twice in a short time. Only a week since we started. It seems to me, for every time, I'm getting more open-hearted. I was an impossible case. No one ever could reach me. But I think I can see in your face, there's a lot you can teach me. So I wanna know what's the name of the game? Does it mean anything to you? What's the name of the game? Can you feel it the way I do? Tell me please, 'cause I have to know. I'm a bashful child beginning to grow. And you make me talk. And you make me feel. And you make me show what I'm trying to conceal. If I trust in you, will you let me down? Would you laugh at me if I said I care for you? Would you feel the same way too? I wanna know the name of the game. I have no friends, no one to see. And I am never invited. Now I am here, talking to you. No wonder I get excited. Your smile and the sound of your voice, and the way you see through me. Got a feeling; you give me no choice. But it means a lot to me. So I wanna know what's the name of the game ? Does it mean anything to you ? But it means a lot. What's the name of the game? Can you feel it the way I do? Tell me please, 'cause I have to know. I'm a bashful child beginning to grow. And you make me talk. And you make me feel. And you make me show what I'm trying to conceal. If I trust in you, will you let me down? Would you laugh at me if I said I care for you? Would you feel the same way too? I wanna know. Oh yes, I wanna know the name of the game. Does it mean anything to you? What's the name of the game? Can you feel it the way I do? Tell me please, 'cause I have to know. I'm a bashful child beginning to grow. And you make me talk. And you make me feel. And you make me show what I'm trying to conceal. If I trust in you, will you let me down? Would you laugh at me if I said I care for you? Would you feel the same way too? I wanna know the name of the game."_

He smiled kindly and opened his arms so that I could give him a hug. I did.

"You're just like your parents," he laughed quietly. "Always have to express yourself by singing."

I laughed, and he kissed my cheek. "I want so badly to get to know you, Beth."

"You really do?" I sniffed, wiping a tear from my eyes.

"Yes," he said. "I've always wanted to be your father, even on the day you were born. I remember when you were an infant and you fell out of your crib. Your tooth went right through your lip and you needed to get stitches."

I laughed awkwardly. "Wow, I don't remember that," I said.

"Of course you don't," he chuckled. "Hey, if you spend Christmas with Quinn, why don't you spend New Years with me? Actually, why don't I come over and spend it with you and Shelby and keep you guys company? Would that be okay?"

"Yes, as long as you don't make out with her in front of me," I told him.

"I promise I won't." He gave me another hug, and then he left the apartment.

**. . . . . . . . . . . **

** Author's Note: I apologize for it being a shorter-than-average chapter. The next one will be longer, I promise. I think that Beth fell out of her crib in the season three episode "I Kissed A Girl"? I don't remember. In a deleted scene of 'Mamma Mia,' Sophie sang "What's The Name Of The Game?" to Bill, one of the men she presumed to be her father, so I decided to have Beth sing the song to Noah. Also, I realize that Quinn and Puck don't really like each other, but they're still one of my favorite couples. I am absolutely in love with the musical "Carousel." The music is gorgeous, so I had to include a song from it. I hope to update fanfiction as much as I possibly can. Bye! Can't wait for Christmas! **


	10. High School Sweethearts

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.**

***This chapter and the next do not have Quinn in it, but after that every single one will! She is mentioned in these two chapters, but does not actually appear in them.* **

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**High School Sweethearts**

One day while I was 'baby-sitting' everyone's kids again, I eavesdropped on a conversation between Savannah and Angelina while playing Monopoly with Oliver. "My mom divorced my dad because she could tell he was in love with your mom," Savannah told Angelina. I remembered Finn telling me about his relationship with Rachel.

"Wow, really?" Angelina said in surprise. "My mom never mentioned him."

There was a knock on the door so I got up to answer it, thinking that it might be one of the parents come to pick their children up. Mike and Tina, Artie and Tabitha, Quinn and Bill, and Mercedes and Shane had already done so. But it was Brittany Pierce that stood there in the doorway. Oliver ran over to stand next to me, using one of his hands to hold my hand with and the other to suck his thumb.

"Hello Brittany, how may I help you?" I asked politely.

"I should be working tonight, but I don't want to," she said with a miserable look on her face. "I don't think I like my job anymore. Do you think I can stay here?"

"Um, this is Finn's house. You'd have to ask him," I informed her. "But I'm sure he would let you. He's let a bunch of other people stay."

"You really think so?" she asked, her face lighting up.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I nodded.

She gave me a big hug and then skipped by over to the couch, making herself at home. She was acting like she could have been one of the children I was baby-sitting. She was rather ditzy for being a grown woman. Santana showed up at the door.

"Hey Beth, I'm here to take Nina home," she said.

"Nina, your mom's here!" I called to the little curly-haired girl.

"I'll be right there!" Nina called back.

Then Santana saw Brittany on the couch. "Oh," she said.

"What?" I was curious.

"I didn't know Brittany was here," Santana said quietly.

"Yeah, she doesn't want to work tonight, so she decided to crash," I explained. "You knew her in high school. You can say hi. I thought you guys were best friends or something, weren't you?"

She chuckled. "Yeah….. But I don't think she would remember me."

I made a face. "You don't think she would remember you? I thought you guys were really close."

"Yeah, but Brittany isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the toolbox," Santana whispered, crossing her arms self-consciously. "And she's been with so many people since we last saw each other that she wouldn't remember me. She probably wouldn't recognize me either. She didn't seem to at Breadstix."

"We'll just have to find out, won't we?" I said. Santana looked like she was about to panic when I turned around and said, "Brittany, come over here."

The blonde woman did as she was told and skipped over. "Yeah?" she asked.

"This is Santana Lopez," I told her. "Do you remember her?"

"We were best friends in high school," Santana explained to her, turning a bright red. "Actually, we were more than best friends. Do you remember me at all?"

Brittany looked like she was hurting her head trying to remember, but couldn't.

My eyes widened in shock. What the heck? I was sure she would have remembered. Santana looked like she was going to cry. "I'm ready to go, Mother!" Nina said enthusiastically, running over to Santana. The two of them left the house.

"You really don't remember her, Brittany?" I found it hard to believe.

"I don't even remember what I had for breakfast this morning," she sighed. "Actually, I don't think I had breakfast this morning….."

A few minutes later Sebastian knocked on the door. "Hi Beth," he smirked.

"Hey Sebastian, Oliver's…. almost ready to go."

Actually, Oliver was crying over in some corner.

"That's cool. I'll give him a minute," Sebastian said, noticing his son.

"Want me to go over and talk to him?" I asked.

"Yeah, that would be great." He nodded. I kinda figured he wouldn't offer to go talk to his son himself, even though he was the boy's father. I went over to Oliver and knelt down beside him. I knew he would rather talk to me than to him anyway.

"What's wrong, Oliver?" I asked sweetly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"My dads yelled at each other last night," he whispered.

"Why?" I wanted to know.

"My father Sebastian accused my daddy Blaine of cheating on him with that Kurt person," Oliver explained. "But he didn't cheat on him, and then he accused him of cheating on him and asked what it would matter if he cheated on him, and… and…"

He hugged me and cried some more. "So Blaine didn't cheat on Sebastian with Kurt, but Sebastian's been cheating on Blaine?" I asked softly.

"Yes," he sobbed, his tears dampening my shirt sleeve.

"It's okay, Oliver. It's okay," I assured him. "Just go see Sebastian. I have a plan. I can make this all work out for you."

I must have been crazy to have come up with the idea to split Blaine and Sebastian up, but I thought that Blaine and Kurt were meant to be. Since I'd never had a happily ever after, I got that crazy idea that maybe I could give someone else one. I held Oliver's hand and we walked over to Sebastian. I smiled politely at him.

"Why was he crying?" he wanted to know.

"Uh, he was thinking about school and bullies and stuff," I lied.

"Right," said Sebastian. "There's a lot of people that make fun of him because he has two dads instead of a mom and a dad."

"Yeah, that must be hard for a child," I said, nodding.

"Yeah, well, seeya, Beth. Thanks for watching Oliver," Sebastian said. He and his son left the house. I waved after them, and then I went across the hall to talk to Kurt.

"Where's Dave?" I asked, noticing that Kurt's 'boyfriend' wasn't there.

"He left," Kurt replied. He seemed relieved. "He went back to New York. Apparently I seemed like I was still in love with Blaine, and Dave couldn't take it. So what do you want to talk about?"

I laughed. "You just assume that I want to talk about something?"

"Well, you came in here and you don't visit my room very often," Kurt pointed out. "Yes, I assume that you want to talk about something."

"Okay, fine, I do wanna talk about something," I admitted. "But I don't think you'll be very happy with me. Sebastian just came over to pick Oliver up, so he won't be back at the hotel for a little while. Why don't you call Blaine right now and ask him to go out on a date with you?"

"Beth, how dare you!" Kurt gasped, placing his hand to his heart. "Blaine and Sebastian are married! I'm not some home wrecker!"

"Kurt, Sebastian cheats on Blaine. A lot," I informed him.

Kurt rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. "You know, he takes him from me, and then when he has him he doesn't deserve him."

"But you _do,_ Kurt," I pointed out, placing a hand on his shoulder. _"You_ do."

Kurt stared at me for a few seconds and smiled. "Fine," he said, and then he went over to his cell phone to dial Blaine's number.

"Yes!" I said excitedly. "Just make sure that Sebastian doesn't find out, though. He might kill you if he does."

Kurt scoffed. "Kill me? He'll kill _you_ for giving me the idea. Your dad Puck may be a badass, but he won't be able to prevent Sebastian from destroying you if he finds out. Hello?…. Blaine, this is Kurt…. I'm fine, but I was wondering if you'd like to meet me at Breadstix tonight…. I just want to catch up….." He looked up at me and gestured for me to get lost, so I did. I left his room and paced up and down the living room, crossing my fingers hopefully. I was such a fan girl. Shelby had told me so much about Kurt and Blaine that I wanted them to be back together.

Kurt eventually met me in the living room with a big grin on his face.

"So he said yes," I concluded from seeing his smile.

"Yes!" Kurt squealed. We shared a big hug. After the hug, Kurt's smile faded and he looked nervously. "Now I'm panicking. What if he has dinner with me and decides he could never like me again? What if I'm not attractive enough -"

"Excuse me," I interrupted, crossing my arms. "You're gorgeous, Kurt. If I was Blaine, not only would I have dinner with you; I would take you home and spend the night with you."

"Oh." Kurt frowned like I was being indecent. "But you really think he might like me? Or even love me again?"

"He'd be crazy not to," I assured him. "And you look incredible in everything you wear, so don't worry about choosing an outfit."

For hours I talked to Kurt about Blaine after he got changed into a flashy suit.

"You don't think this is too much?" he asked about the suit.

"It makes you look like the Kurt he fell in love with," I said, and he smiled. "So did you two ever have sex?" I asked nosily.

He frowned. "Well, it's really none of your business, but yes we did. But it wasn't just because we were nasty, horny teenagers. We really loved each other; he really did love me."

"Sorry if I sound like a pervert," I apologized aloud, while secretly trying to picture what that would have been like. "I just want to know a little bit more about your relationship together. I wanna know a little about the couple I'm trying to reunite."

"I hope this works out, Little Miss Matchmaker," he sighed.

When he was finally done getting ready, he hugged me again and left the house. I sat around watching Angelina for a few more hours. Savannah's mom had picked her up while Kurt was preparing to have dinner with Blaine. Jesse and Rachel were spending time with Shelby, and Finn was working late hours with Burt at the tire shop. Brittany was sleeping in the tub in one of the bathrooms. She said it was even more comfortable than a bed. I let her do what she wanted. If she found it comfortable, then fine. I sat on the couch watching television, hoping that Blaine and Kurt's date was going well.

There was a knock on the door, and I hoped it was Finn or Rachel and Jesse. As long as it wasn't Kurt come home early from an unsuccessful date with Blaine, it would be okay. But it was Sebastian. I suddenly would have preferred that it was Kurt. Sebastian was no longer wearing that phony smile on his face. He was scowling.

"Beth, I would like to thank you for being so nice to my kid," he said. "But I would also like to tell you that we won't be in Ohio for much longer. My kid, Blaine, and I are all returning to New York immediately. As soon as tomorrow morning."

"But Blaine was enjoying getting to see all his old friends," I explained.

He gave an icy laugh. "Yes, one in particular." He stepped forward and glared at me. "Look me in the eye and tell me you're not trying to get Blaine back together with that pixie Kurt Hummel."

It was difficult for me to lie while looking someone in the eye, but I needed to do it. "I promise I'm not."

"Prove it to me right now," he challenged. "I got back to the hotel and Blaine told me he was going 'for a walk.' I know Kurt is staying in this house. Show me to him and if he isn't here, then I know he's out with Blaine."

"Fine," I said slowly. "Follow me." I led him over to the closed bathroom door and came up with a lie. "Kurt's been having trouble sleeping at night, so he falls asleep in the weirdest places sometimes. Kurt, are you awake?"

Sebastian and I could hear Brittany's snores through the closed door.

"That isn't Kurt," Sebastian snapped, opening the door and seeing Brittany. I closed my eyes and winced. "Kurt would never snore," Sebastian said angrily. "Admit that you're trying to get Blaine and Kurt back together! You must think you're Cupid or something! This is what this whole 'New Directions Reunion' is all about, isn't it? You arranged it so that you could get Blaine back together with Kurt, Brittany back together with Santana, Mercedes back together with Sam, Rachel back together with Finn, and your whore mother Quinn back together with Noah, didn't you?"

My bottom lip trembled. I felt like I was going to cry. "I only wanted to help -"

"Listen, Beth," he said coldly. "Just because you have a screwed-up family doesn't mean that you have the right to go screw everyone else's family up!"

"Listen, Sebastian," I said back firmly. "You don't deserve Blaine. All you do is cheat on him."

He laughed. "You're such a little hypocrite telling me not to cheat on my husband when your mother cheated on her boyfriend to conceive you."

"I am not my mother!" I shouted. "And you deserve this, Sebastian! What goes around comes around!"

He smiled wickedly. "You're right about that. If you do anything to damage the relationship that Blaine and I share, I'll be sure to damage you that much worse."

"That's fine," I replied, not daring to think about what he meant by that. "Just promise not to take this out on your son. He's had enough shit."

"Oh," Sebastian chuckled. "And you had everyone thinking you were a nice girl. Don't worry, Beth. I won't take this out on my kid. I'll be sure to save all of my hostility for you, and that gay-faced Kurt Hummel."

He was almost out the door before I promised, "I will get Blaine back with Kurt, Sebastian."

He smirked. "I can't wait, because when it happens… I'll make you sorry."

What the hell did he mean by that? It wasn't like he could kill me. Ha, that was ridiculous. As Kurt had called him, 'Meerkat-faced Sebastian' wouldn't do anything too extreme. I wasn't intimidated by him.

The door opened a little while later and into the house came Finn, Rachel, and Jesse. The three of them were having a conversation. Rachel seemed more interested in Finn than Jesse; she laughed at everything he said and stared at him the whole time. I could have attempted to get the two of them back together, but I didn't want Jesse to be angry at me too. I didn't want to make any more trouble than I had already.

"You can go home now, Beth," Finn told me, and so I did. I couldn't wait to see Shelby. I wasn't going to tell her what I had done, but at least I was going to be around the one person that I've always been able to cry to.

**. . . . . . . . . . . **

**Author's Note: This chapter didn't contain Quinn or Puck, but I promise the next one will contain Puck, and I think every single chapter for the rest of the story will contain Quinn! Ugh, I don't want to go back to school next week! Miserable place. **


	11. Confused

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.**

***This chapter does not have Quinn in it, but after this every single one will! She is mentioned in this chapter, but does not actually appear in it.* **

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**Confused **

All my life I'd been passive. If I ever wanted something, I didn't go for it. If I had friends that were in an argument, I didn't take sides. Since this was my senior year in high school, I decided to take some chances. I joined Glee Club, asked Maddie to hang out with me again, invited my parents to Ohio, made out with a hot older guy, and made a man angry at me. I was a romantic, and in my opinion there was nothing romantic about the relationship that Blaine Anderson and Sebastian Smythe shared. Blaine belonged with Kurt. If I couldn't have a happily ever after of my own, then I could at least give them theirs. I should have listened to Shelby when she said that even though following your heart was exciting it could also get you into all sorts of trouble.

I shouldn't have been intimidated by Sebastian. He seemed like the kind of guy who was all talk and no action. But who knows? Oliver was always hiding when he came to pick him up after I baby sat him. There was a possibility that he might have hit him once or twice. I highly doubted that Sebastian would hit me or do anything to hurt me physically, but he would probably think of some sneaky ways to mess up my life. I wanted so badly to tell Shelby, but she would be upset with me for going behind her back, reuniting the old New Directions, and interfering with their lives. I was too ashamed to tell Noah or even Quinn, but if this escalated, I would have to. I would rather go to Noah or Quinn about this than Shelby.

Maddie told me that the boys were saying I was ugly again. She didn't possess enough common sense to spare me that detail, and I felt very repulsive. I still hoped that maybe John might change his mind about liking Mary and start liking me, but all he would ever see me as is a friend. I wasn't about to try wrecking another relationship. Why was I worried about John anyway? I had _Steven,_ the super hot, college football boyfriend. Steven asked me to go out on a date with him at Breadstix.

"So, are you gonna go to The Ohio State University too?" he asked me at dinner.

"Actually, Shelby was telling me about NYADA," I explained. "It's the New York Academy Of Dramatic Arts. Her daughter Rachel wanted to go there."

Steven smiled. "And if you don't get accepted…?"

"Then I'll look into The Ohio State University." I nodded. "How do you like college anyway?"

"It's great," he said, "especially being on football. But all the girls get mad when I tell them I have a girlfriend in high school. I don't see you very often, but yeah, college is fun."

I wasn't sure if by using that passive-aggressive tone, he was suggesting that he wanted to take the next step in our relationship. I wouldn't mind. He was really hot and I was feeling really stressed out about school and the whole Sebastian situation. "You wanna do it, Steven?" I asked nervously.

"Uh, tonight?" He looked surprised. I nodded eagerly. "Now?" I nodded again. "Well Beth, I'm flattered, but can't we have dinner first? I mean, in the time that I've known you all we've done is grind and make out. You've never had a real conversation with me, and you hardly ask to see me. I would like to get to know you before we take that step."

I felt rejected again. "I thought that was what you wanted. That's all guys want, isn't it? You seemed pretty forward about wanting to do it at that Halloween party."

Steven groaned. "Beth, you've never had a boyfriend, have you?"

Embarrassed, I slowly shook my head. "No, I've never had one."

"Sure. Guys like sex, but that's not all they want. Like girls, guys care about other things like dating, seeing a movie, cuddling, kissing, stuff like that. The girls in college are jealous of you because I talk about you all the time and I care so much about you that I don't want to mess around with them. I was a total jerk at that Halloween party; I'd had one too many drinks. I think you're under the wrong impression about guys and relationships. I'm a jock, but I'm not an idiot. I really want to love you, Beth, but you're not letting me. And I think that's because you're not ready for a relationship."

"I guess I'm not," I admitted quietly. "I also think that if you got to know me, you would leave."

"You think I'll reject you?" he asked, and I bit my lower lip to keep it from trembling. "How long have you been afraid of rejection?"

"Since… my parents put me up for adoption after I was born," I mumbled.

"Sounds to me like you're confused, Beth," Steven decided. "You're confused about a lot of things: the main thing being your identity. Not all adopted kids have it, but I hear that a lot of kids that are adopted go through an identity crisis. You must have trouble deciding who your real parents are. I think I should break up with you, Beth. You need to find yourself before you try to find love."

"Steven, please don't…" I pleaded when he stood up and kissed me on top of my head.

"If you find out who you are, I might get back with you," he said, leaving the restaurant.

I felt so rejected, having been broken up with by a great guy before I even got to know him. I left the restaurant thinking about how I destroyed everything I touched.

When I got home, I saw Noah sitting in front of the television. "Hey," he said. "Artie gave Shelby a call and told her that even though you guys won Sectionals, the school board made him relieve her and Mr. Schue of their Glee coach duties. According to the school board they're not too old to teach, but they're too old to coach Glee Club. They've hired someone younger. You'll find out who that is when Christmas break is over. Rachel and Jesse invited Shelby to dinner to try to cheer her up. I was supposed to be here tomorrow for New Years, but I decided to show up a little early and spend some time with you while she was gone."

"Noah, are you and Quinn my real parents?" I asked.

"What do you mean by 'real'?" he was curious.

"Should I consider you and Quinn my real parents?" I asked again.

He gave a small smile. "No. Shelby's your only real parent because she's always been there."

I started crying, and he hugged me. "My boyfriend just broke up with me," I told him. "He wants a girlfriend who knows who she is. And Sebastian wants to make my life a living hell because I tried to get Blaine back with Kurt. There's a_ lot_ of people I'd like to get together like Finn and Rachel, Santana and Brittany_, you and Quinn_… I invited the old New Directions to come to Ohio just so you and Quinn could get back together and the three of us could be a family. I can't believe I did this to Shelby. I just want to see her and apologize…"

Noah kissed the top of my head and began singing a beautiful song that eventually got me to stop crying: _"So long, I've been looking too hard, I've been waiting too long. Sometimes I don't know what I will find. I only know it's a matter of time. When you love someone… when you love someone. It feels so right, so warm and true; I need to know if you feel it too. Maybe I'm wrong. Won't you tell me if I'm coming on too strong? This heart of mine has been hurt before. This time I wanna be sure. I've been waiting for a girl like you to come into my life. I've been waiting for a girl like you, and a love that will survive. I've been waiting for someone new to make me feel alive. Yeah, waiting for a girl like you to come into my life. I've been waiting for a girl like you to come into my life. I've been waiting for a girl like you, and a love that will survive. I've been waiting for someone new to make me feel alive. Yeah, waiting for a girl like you to come into my life."_

When he was done singing and I was done crying, he rubbed my back comfortingly and said "I sang that song to you and Shelby when you were a toddler. You were crying, and when I sang that song, you stopped. It was like magic, like a lullaby. I guess you really like the song."

"It's beautiful," I sniffed, wiping my nose.

"You might not know it, but I actually share a lot of things with you," Noah explained. "Like that song, the clown-pig, that stuffed elephant… that's more than I can say for Quinn. Shelby's your real mom. Keep that in mind, but I still think you should try to make some special memories with Quinn, unless it confuses you."

"No, I'm not confused anymore," I decided, and I grabbed a blank spiral notebook and began writing about my life in it. I wanted Quinn to know who I was. Even though we'd spent Christmas together, she didn't know enough about me.

**. . . . . . . . . . . .**

** Author's Note: In the next chapter you'll find out who the new Glee coach is! There'll also be a lot of Quinn! The next few chapters will be more exciting than these last two were, I promise. Only a few more days before school starts again, ew. I hate school. And I sadly have to wait a few more weeks before Glee is on again. I apologize that this is a short chapter. I will hopefully be updating this fic a lot more often if school and after school clubs don't take all my time away. Happy Early New Years! **


	12. Dear Beth

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.**

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**Dear Beth **

"What's wrong?" Kimberly asked me.

"My boyfriend broke up with me – well, actually he wasn't really a boyfriend. We hardly ever saw each other while we were dating. I'm not a very good girlfriend. And I tried to break up a married… I just have a lot on my mind." 

She made a face. "You tried to get with a married man?"

"No, no, of course not," I assured her. "They weren't right for each other, so I tried to set him up with someone better."

"Wow, how dramatic," she said in surprise. "Who is this couple?"

"A gay couple. They knew my parents," I explained.

She made a face. "Uh…. Okay….."

"There's nothing wrong with gay people," I snapped.

"No, of course not. I didn't say that."

I shook my head. "Whatever, Kim. I gotta go to Glee Club. Shelby was fired. We have a new director, and I don't know who it's gonna be. You can go hang out with Maddie or something." I started off, but decided that I'd been too hard on my best friend. I turned around and gave her a hug. "Bye."

"Bye, Beth," she replied, and I continued on my way to Glee Club.

"Hey, Beth," John said with a bright, cheerful smile on his face. "You ready to see who the new director is?"

"I guess."

At least I know it wasn't going to be Sebastian since he, Blaine, Oliver, Jesse, Rachel, and Angelina went back to New York. Kurt told me that Sebastian had informed Jesse of what I'd done, so Jesse was paranoid that I would try to reunite Rachel and Finn.

Kurt had stayed with his father for a few more nights and then went back to New York as well. Mike and Tina Chang went back to Washington DC., and Sam and Emily, Mercedes and Shane, and Santana and Leslie had also gone. I didn't know where Brittany was, or where Quinn and her family were. Noah had stayed for me and Shelby. He told us that Lauren had grown bored of him and they were to be divorced.

"Hello," said a lovely voice, and my mother Quinn entered the choir room. John smiled at me. "Good afternoon, guys. I'm Quinn Fletcher, and I'm your new Glee director. I used to be in the New Directions like you. Congrats for your win at Sectionals. Why don't we talk about Regionals?"

There was enthusiastic chatter. Quinn continued, "Mary, Tony, and John did wonderfully with their solos, but I think we should let someone else sing the solo for Regionals."

"What?" Mary said in outrage.

"But I _always_ sing the solo!" Tony argued.

"No, come on, guys. She's right," John tried to calm everyone down. "We should let someone else get a chance to shine for once."

Mary groaned. "Who?"

"I'm thinking…" Quinn turned to me and smiled. "Beth, would you like to have the solo?"

My eyes widened. "M-me? Me have the solo? Um, I don't know. I haven't had years of vocal training and singing lessons like everyone else in this room. Shouldn't it at least be a duet?"

Quinn shook her head. "I had no vocal training before I joined Glee Club, but that doesn't matter. You sing beautifully, Beth. You should do this."

Mary went over to me, smiled, and gave me a hug. "You _should,_ Beth."

"Thanks," I said, and after Glee was over I went with Quinn to the Lima Bean.

"I have a present for you," Quinn said, handing me a journal. "You told me how much you loved to write, so after Christmas I got with all of the old New Directions and we wrote you about ourselves and about how our lives were in high school; how things have changed, and how they haven't."

My eyes teared up. "Thank you, Mom," I said, getting up out of my chair and giving her a hug. "This is the best gift ever."

"It's a late Christmas present," she said, hugging me back. After I sat back down, I listened as she explained to me that her husband and children were back in Virginia and that she would be staying to direct Glee Club until after I graduated. "Beth, I really want you to sing the solo at Regionals. Any song you want, something from your heart. Something you."

"I know just the song," I said with a smile.

As I drove home later that evening, I listened to a compilation CD of ABBA songs that I'd put together, and one of those songs was "Thank You For The Music." That was the song that I was going to sing at Regionals. Thank God for Glee Club and singing. It made me feel better when life was hard, as it did for Noah, Quinn, and Shelby. When I got home I sat on my bed and read the journal.

Dear Beth,

You know me as Quinn Fletcher, but my real name was Lucy Fabray. You know me as being the head cheerleader in high school, but growing up I was chubby and quiet. Before high school, I started taking ballet and gymnastics and playing sports. I got a nose job and dyed my red hair blonde. I became a different person, dedicating my life to making others feel bad about themselves the way they had done to me when I was on the outside looking in. I took orders from our sly cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester. One of her orders was for me, Santana, and Brittany to join Glee Club and serve as her spies. When I got pregnant and was kicked both off the squad and out of my own home, everyone in Glee Club was there for me. I really enjoyed Glee Club because everyone in it was like me. They were outcasts. I was an outcast not only because I was pregnant, but also because of who I was before I had my extreme makeover. I went a little crazy after sophomore year: cheating on my boyfriend Sam, trying to destroy Rachel Berry, and then dyeing my hair pink, smoking, dating middle-aged men, getting tattoos and body piercings, and trying to sabotage your mother Shelby. Shelby turned my life around and talked some sense into me, and I knew I made the right decision to let her keep you. You're a good girl because you're her daughter. I only hope that you will think I'm good enough to have in your life. I love you so, so much, Beth. You are my greatest achievement, and Drew and Kristen are lucky to have a sister like you.

Love, Quinn

Dear Beth,

I never thought about joining Glee Club, but I did like music. My mom was with a lawn guy named Darren, who introduced me to drums and singing. I guess Mr. Schue heard me singing in the shower, and I had no choice but to join Glee Club because he put something in my backpack and said he'd tell my mom. I went to Glee rehearsal and met Rachel Berry. As I got to know her, I started to like her, which confused me since I was dating your mom Quinn. You probably know that I thought you were my daughter. Glee did a lot of things for me. it made me more tolerant, and I became a much better man.

Love, Finn

Dear Beth,

I was an outcast to start out in high school because of my weight. I thought that if I joined Glee Club I would be in a place where I could feel like a star, the star that I was. I still didn't get the spotlight that I deserved because it was always on Rachel Berry, but I eventually realized that didn't matter. I was a star because I loved being in Glee Club and had a fabulous singing voice. I made many amazing friends like your mother Quinn, Santana, Tina, Kurt, even Rachel, and Sam. Sam was one of the best things that came out of Glee Club.

Love, Mercedes

Dear Beth,

People don't really notice geeks, especially geeks in wheelchairs. It was like I was invisible. People pretended not to see me or acknowledge me. When I joined Glee Club, I became cool, even if no one outside Glee thought I was. The jocks in Glee started hanging out with me and I dated two girls. I was even allowed to be on the football team, even though I never played. In senior year I got to direct the school musical and a Christmas television special. And even though I'm a high school principal and not a Hollywood movie director, I will always have Glee.

Love, Artie

Dear Beth,

I guess you could say that I created the New Directions. I was in Glee Club before Mr. Schue was director. I got Sandy Ryerson fired and the kids that had been in Glee quit, except for Kurt. He had always been in Glee Club but we couldn't stand each other at the time. Mercedes, Tina, and Artie didn't like me either after they joined the New Directions because they feared that my star shone brighter than theirs. Then Finn Hudson joined Glee Club, and I fell for him, but he was with your mom. Whether I was with Puck or Jesse, I always thought of Finn. As time passed, Glee Club got bigger and everyone became friends with me. I was proud of the New Directions. I'm on Broadway now, but I always remember Glee Club fondly.

Love, Rachel

Dear Beth,

Grades were everything to my father. He wanted me to be a doctor when I grew up so that I would make a lot of money, but I had a secret passion. I loved to dance, but my father could never know. No one could. Noah Puckerman – your father – was on the football team like me, and when he joined Glee Club I thought it would be a good job for me to join too, because it would look cool since he did it. Glee Club was incredible, and if it wasn't for the New Directions, I never would have met my beautiful wife Tina. Glee Club showed me that I should always follow my dreams.

Love, Mike

Dear Beth,

I was painfully shy growing up. I went so far as to fake a stutter so no one would talk to me. That all changed when I joined Glee Club. I stopped wanting to be invisible. I started making friends and met the love of my life: Mike. Glee Club brought me out of my shell, and I felt like a star every time I sang in that choir room.

Love, Tina

Dear Beth,

I was the new kid in Glee Club. I liked the New Directions since my first lunch at McKinley. I felt awesome when I joined Glee Club, and it didn't matter that it wasn't supposed to be cool. The New Directions were there for me when times were rough, like when my family was struggling financially. So many people left an impression on me, like your mother Quinn, Santana, Kurt, an Irish kid named Rory, and Mercedes.

Love, Sam

Dear Beth,

I did nothing but insult people and make them feel bad about themselves. I don't know why. I guess I thought that was who I was. I made fun of people that were outcasts, and the biggest outcasts were in Glee Club. I thought I was in Glee Club because I was spying for Coach Sylvester. I was really there so I could discover who I was. Glee Club did help me discover who I was. I realized that I didn't have to be so mean to people. I just needed to be myself.

Love, Santana

Dear Beth,

I joined the New Directions during my junior year in high school. At one point I had been in public school, but I ran away and hid in an all-boy's private school. Kurt showed me courage. He gave me the bravery to transfer from Dalton to McKinley, and when I was there and in the New Directions I realized that I didn't have to run from anything anymore. I felt safe.

Love, Blaine

Dear Beth,

It's been such a long time since I was in Glee Club, but I remember that I got to sing and dance, and I had special friends. I had a great time in Glee Club.

Love, Brittany

Dear Beth,

I was one of the first few people to be in Glee Club, and I made lots of friends. My friends encouraged me to accept myself and I was even brave enough to come out to my father. Being in Glee Club showed me that I can be anyone, do anything. Now that I am a working adult, I wish I could be back in high school and in Glee Club.

Love, Kurt

Dear Beth,

Glee Club changed me. It saved my life. I don't know where I would be now without it. I joined for Quinn, for you. You are my angel in every way. Without you, I wouldn't have had Glee Club. I was an idiot, as you've probably been told a thousand times over. I never did what was right. I acted impulsively and did things that were bad for me. My mom always bossed me around, and my dad was never there. I'm glad you think I'm a good father, and not a jerk like him. I love your moms – both of them. Shelby and Quinn. I must have done something right in this life because I had you. Every mistake I ever made doesn't matter because you are everything good in this world. I enjoy every day I spend with you. Quinn told me she wants you to sing a solo at Regionals. You should do it. You're very talented, like your parents!

Love, Puck

**. . . . . . . . . . . .**

**Author's Note: I'm so excited for my sister that she was cast in the school musical! I was cast in last year's and hope she has as much fun as I did! I will be very busy over the next few months, but I still hope to update as often as possible. I can't wait for the Michael Jackson Glee episode!**


	13. Regionals

**Beth, What Can I Do? ****Beth never really cared that Quinn and Puck didn't keep her… not until now.**

**Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Falchuk.**

** . . . . . . . . . . . .**

**Regionals **

Quinn asked that everyone wear pale blue for Regionals. It was our favorite color. She told me that she'd invited Noah, Shelby, and all the other New Directions to watch me sing. My friends and I entered the auditorium to watch the first group perform, the Dalton Academy Warblers. The mc made his announcement: _"Let's give a nice, warm welcome to the first of our three judges: Janie Whitman, the daughter of a well-known theatre director in Ohio…"_

A pretty woman with platinum blonde hair and thick coats of makeup on her face stood up. She was Janie. After everyone finished applauding for her, the mc said, _"Our next judge is Harmony, a former Leotard." _The Leotards were another group that was going to be performing today. As the mc announced Harmony, a small but enthusiastic woman with dark brown hair stood up dramatically. _"Harmony is also a graduate from NYADA: New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. And finally Sebastian Smythe, a former Warbler!"_

I gasped when Sebastian stood up and acknowledged the audience in a conceited manner.

"What's wrong?" John asked me in a concerned tone.

"This is how he's getting back at me," I whispered. "He said he was gonna ruin my life somehow, and he's doing it by judging Regionals. We're gonna lose."

Sebastian locked eyes with me for a moment, smirked, and mouthed the word, "Hi."

I tuned out the rest of what the mc said. I wanted to cry. If I was able to win us Regionals, I would make my mom really proud of me. We weren't going to win with Sebastian as a judge. It was over. His mission was to destroy the New Directions. After the Warblers performed and the Leotards got ready, the New Directions headed over to the greenroom to warm up. Almost everyone was in a good mood, except for me. We had no chance of winning, and it was all my fault because I was going to be singing the solo, and because I had to attempt to get Blaine back with Kurt.

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked, sitting down next to me and placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Sebastian's judging," I sniffed, shaking my head. "We're gonna lose."

"Oh, honey," Quinn said sweetly, giving me a hug. "Not necessarily."

"Yes, we are," I said. "We're going to lose Regionals, and I just wanted to make you proud of me.

"Oh, Beth," she sighed. "I'll be proud of you whether you win or lose. You're an amazing young woman with a beautiful singing voice. A silly trophy isn't all that important. Not more important than you are to me."

Noah and Shelby both came into the greenroom with big smiles on their faces.

Noah was holding a bouquet of flowers. "Hey, Beth," Shelby said enthusiastically. "Break a leg."

"You're going to be a rock star like your dad after you win Regionals," Noah said.

"We're not going to win," I told them. "Not with Sebastian as a judge."

Shelby gave me a hug and said, "It's okay. You'll do wonderfully anyway."

"Yeah," Noah said, hugging me next and kissing my forehead. "You're an amazing daughter." He sang softly, _"There's two things I know for sure: She was sent here from Heaven, and she's daddy's little girl. As I drop to my knees by her bed at night, she talks to Jesus, and I close my eyes. And I thank God for all of the joy in my life. Oh, but most of all, for butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer. Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair. 'Walk beside the pony, Daddy, it's my first ride.' 'I know the cake looks funny, Daddy, but I sure tried.' Oh, with all that I've done wrong, I must have done something right to deserve a hug every morning, and butterfly kisses at night. Sweet sixteen today. She's looking like her mama a little more every day. One part woman, the other part girl. To perfume and makeup from ribbons and curls. Trying her wings out in a great big world. But I remember butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer. Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair. 'You know how much I love you, Daddy, but if you don't mind, I'm only gonna kiss you on the cheek this time.' Oh, with all that I've done wrong, I must have done something right to deserve a hug every morning, and butterfly kisses at night. All the precious time, like the wind the years go by. Precious butterfly, spread your wings and fly. She'll change her name today. She'll make a promise, and I'll give her away. Standing in the bride room, just looking at her. She asked me what I'm thinking, and I said I'm not sure. I just feel like I'm losing my baby girl. And she leaned over; gave me butterfly kisses with her mama there. Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair. 'Walk me down the aisle, Daddy. It's just about time. Does my wedding gown look pretty, Daddy? Daddy, don't cry.' Oh, with all that I've done wrong, I must have done something right to deserve a hug every morning, and butterfly kisses. I couldn't ask God for more than this. This is what love is. I know I've got to let her go, but I'll always remember every hug in the morning and butterfly kisses."_

"Thank you," I sniffed. "I feel better now."

"I'm so sorry that I didn't get to grow up with you, really," he apologized. "But every moment we've shared together has been wonderful."

I glanced over at Quinn, who looked like she was completely in love with Noah.

_"In just a few moments, the New Directions!" _the mc announced.

Quinn took my hand and smiled kindly. "No matter what happens, you'll always be a star."

The New Directions headed to the stage. The walk there felt like it was a thousand miles long. I stepped to the front of the stage and was practically blinded by the spotlight. I could barely see Sebastian's smirking face at the judge's table. I breathed into the microphone, receiving feedback in response. Then I began singing: _"I'm nothing special. In fact, I'm a bit of a bore. If I tell a joke, you've probably heard it before. But I have a talent, a wonderful thing. 'Cause everyone listens when I start to sing. I'm so grateful and proud. All I want is to sing it out loud. So I say, thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing. Thanks for all the joy they're bringing. Who can live without it? I ask in all honesty, what would life be? Without a song or a dance, what are we? So I say, thank you for the music, for giving it to me. Mother says I was a dancer before I could walk. She says I began to sing long before I could talk. But I've often wondered: how did it all start? Who found out that nothing can capture a heart like a melody can? Well, whoever it was, I'm a fan. So I say, thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing. Thanks for all the joy they're bringing. Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty? What would life be without a song or a dance? What are we? So I say, thank you for the music, for giving it to me. I've been so lucky. I am the girl with golden hair. I wanna sing it out to everybody. What a joy, what a life, what a chance! So I say, thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing. Thanks for all the joy they're bringing. Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty? What would life be, without a song or a dance? What are we? So I say, thank you for the music, for giving it to me."_

I received a standing ovation, which made me feel good. The audience loved it. In that moment, I was happy. I was a star. Sebastian was clapping, but he was sitting down. He clapped slowly and smugly. Quinn was right, though. It didn't matter if we didn't win Regionals. Sebastian was a judge so he could control who won and who didn't, but he couldn't change the fact that the audience liked me.

Then John came to the front of the stage and started our next song: _"Hey, hey, hey, hey, ooh, oh. Won't you come see about me? I'll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby. Tell me your troubles and doubts, giving me everything inside and out."_

Tony came forward and sang: _"And love's strange, so real in the dark. Think of the tender things that we were working on. Slow change may pull us apart. When the light gets into your heart, baby."_

They sang together: _"Don't you forget about me. Don't, don't, don't, don't. Don't you forget about me."_

Then I sang: _"Will you stand above me? Look my way, never love me. Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling down, down, down."_

Mary began: _"Will you recognize me? Call my name or walk on by? Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling down, down, down." _

Thomas came to the front of the stage and sang: _"Hey, hey, hey, hey. Ooh, oh. Don't you pretend. It's my feeling we'll win in the end. I won't harm you or touch your defenses. Vanity and security." _

Then Anna came forward and sang: _"Don't you forget about me. I'll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby. Going to take you apart. I'll put us back together at heart, baby." _

Then everyone sang together: _"Don't you forget about me. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't you forget about me. As you walk on by, will you call my name? As you walk on by, when you call my name? When you walk away, or will you walk away? Come on, call my name. Will you call my name? I say, la, la, la. When you walk on by, and you call my name."_

We received another standing ovation, bowed, and soon went outside to have lunch while the judges deliberated. My heart pounded hard. I knew we were going to lose. I just wanted to hear it already. I just wanted to be sure so I didn't have to worry about it anymore.

When the time came, all three Glee Clubs stood on the stage to hear who had won and who had lost the competition. Janie, Harmony, and Sebastian stepped to the front of the stage. _"Second place goes to the Leotards, my high school Glee Club!" _Harmony announced, and the competitors from that group cheered and received their trophy.

_"And first place goes to the Dalton Academy Warblers," _Sebastian finished arrogantly.

The Warblers cheered ecstatically and accepted their trophy. They all hugged each other.

John pat me on the shoulder and said, "It's okay, Beth. You did a great job."

After he went over to comfort Mary, Sebastian came over to gloat at me.

"You did a great job, Beth," he said, but in a mocking, condescending tone of voice. "I didn't expect for you to have _any_ talent at _all_. You just weren't good enough to make it to Nationals. But I'm the judge. I'm here to make these decisions. It's my job. It's not personal."

"Beat it, Se_bastard,"_ Noah said, approaching the judge. "I think we both know that this was personal, and you'd be in trouble if anyone found out that the only reason the New Directions didn't win was because you had something against one of the students. I just talked to Janie, and she said that the New Directions was both hers and Harmony's first choice to win, but you argued them out of it."

"You just _try_ to get anyone to believe you," Sebastian scoffed. "My dad is sort of what you call a states attorney."

_"I'm_ a states attorney," Noah said, and suddenly Sebastian didn't look so confident.

"Sorry that I caused so much emotional anguish," he apologized timidly, and then he turned around and walked away.

"Noah," Quinn said, going over to him. "That was incredible. You crushed him." She took his face in her hands and kissed his lips passionately. I looked away awkwardly, and then Quinn stopped, turned around, looked at me, and laughed in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, Beth."

"It's okay," I assured her. "It just bothers me that we didn't win Regionals. Not a great way to end my birthday."

Quinn shook her head. "That's not the way your birthday's going to end. I've arranged a special party for you at Breadstix. We're taking the New Directions (new and old) to Breadstix."

We took several different cars to my favorite restaurant, and when we got there, the newer and the older New Directions talked about Glee Club and their lives together. Quinn told me about how she'd given birth to me on the day of Regionals during her sophomore year of high school. She said that she wished she could have gone back to that day and kept me, and that she remembered how extraordinary it was to hold me after I was born.

_"Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday, dear Beth. Happy Birthday to you."_

It was wonderful to be surrounded by all of my friends on my birthday. "Quinn," I said. "I mean, Mom. Do you really have to go back to Virginia after I graduate? Can't you and your family come and live here?"

"It's not that easy, sweetie," Quinn explained, rubbing my back. "I have a life in Virginia. I have to go back there. I'm surprised I haven't had to go back already. But you are my daughter, and you are free to visit me whenever you want. You might even think about applying for a school in Virginia so we can live closer. And I want you to know that, even thought I love my husband, I still love your father too. For years I didn't realize it, but now I do."

I smiled. "I'll miss you."

She chuckled. "Miss me? I'm still here for another three months."

"Good," I laughed.

"I'd like to make a toast," Blaine Anderson announced, raising his glass, "to the Birthday girl, Beth Corcoran. If it wasn't for her, none of us would be here, sitting together. High school was a great time in our lives. I missed a lot of you guys. Thanks to Beth, I was able to see you again." He smiled at Kurt, who smiled back at him.

"Yeah," Santana agreed. "And it was great that you guys sang the song from _The Breakfast Club_ for Regionals, because listening to it made me think about how I'm never going to forget any of you guys."

"That's why I chose it," Quinn chuckled. "It made me think of everyone here too."

Rachel hugged Finn and smiled at me. "To Beth."

"To Beth," everyone agreed, lifting their glasses.

"A very special girl," Noah said, nodding at me.

During dinner I thought about how my life had changed senior year. I'd never really known who I was, but now I did. I was Shelby's daughter, and I was also Quinn's and Noah's daughter. I was a wonderful person who'd made an impact in many people's lives, and knowing that was going to make my life a lot better.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . **

** Author's Note: So that's the end! I wanted to make it longer, but my life is crazy busy, so I wasn't sure how much time I would have to keep writing it. Plus, I'm writing about five other stories at the moment. But I hope you enjoyed it! I'm still writing my Klaine story, and hope to write more Glee stories, as well as stories for other TV Shows, movies, books, Broadway plays, etc. Bye, guys! Can't wait for Glee next week! **


	14. Soundtrack

**Beth, What Can I Do? Soundtrack **

**The Songs That Are Featured In This Fanfic**

**Song** **Original Artist** **Who Sang It In This Story**

"Maybe" By Andrea McArdle Beth Corcoran

"I Have A Dream" By ABBA Beth Corcoran

"Mamma Mia" By ABBA Quinn Fletcher

"Lay All Your Love On Me" By ABBA Tony Romano, Mary Parker, and the New Directions

"Perfectly" By Huckapoo Beth Corcoran

"Bouncing Off The Walls" By Reve Carney Vocal Adrenaline

"Someday" By Rob Thomas John Ryan and the New Directions

"I'll Be Home For Christmas" By Bing Crosby Beth Corcoran

"If I Loved You" By Shirley Jones and Gordon Macrae: Quinn Fletcher and Noah Puckerman

"The Name Of The Game" By ABBA Beth Corcoran

"Waiting For A Girl Like You" By Foreigner Noah Puckerman

"Butterfly Kisses" By Bob Carlisle Noah Puckerman

"Thank You For The Music" By ABBA Beth Corcoran

"Don't You Forget About Me" By Simple Minds John Ryan, Tony Romano, Beth

Corcoran, Mary Parker, Thomas, Anna, and the New Directions


End file.
